Reku's Resurrection Arc
by InfinitNei
Summary: ((2017)) Far from home and devoting their lives to the preservation of the late Ryverika's will, the independent guild Infinity Dragon seeks to end the tyranny of Austalian cultists for the sake of their futures. In doing so, Neirah hoped to find peace but never once expected what was to come. (Arc inserted between Avatar and Alvarez) ((SOUR))
1. The Storm Inside

**_The Storm Inside_**

 _ **Prologue**_

* * *

.

.

The last thing he could remember was the feeling of fire igniting in his blood to circulate incomprehensible power through his veins. Through eyes wide with uncertainty, the world was brighter; sharper. Suddenly, despite his blood staining the earth and the once hopeless situation breaking ground beneath his feet, losing wasn't an option. His heartbeat raced, thundering in his ears with vague reassurance in every breath. For the briefest of moments, infinite power pulsing within him, Neirah's unconsciousness was irrelevant. He could feel her by his side with every move he made. But when the fighting had concluded, leaving him to fade back into reality from the overwhelming state of mind guiding his merciless hand in battle, he couldn't feel her; despite her lying wistfully in his arms.

.

There was too much blood on the battlefield to tell whose was whose, but the wrenching of Laxus' gut led him to believe that most of it had been hers and that it had been there long before he had arrived to rescue the rambunctious infinite slayer. It churned his stomach to have his senses bathed in her defeat, her vulnerability, a failure he didn't believe she was capable of suffering. Purity was always supposed to triumph over the vile, it was what she always preached to him about fables. Just like the hero. The prince was supposed to be the hero, not the failure clutching the dying princess in his weak, trembling arms.

.

His vision was becoming his own again, but he was willing to wish it all away if it meant defending the illusion of her safety, preserving the warmth of her skin that had been replaced with heart-wrenching daggers of ice. As he slowly began to comprehend the terrors he was faced with, his vacant expression started to twist in agony, commencing with the baring of his teeth and the devastated catch in his breath as he choked on actuality. "No," he forced out raggedly in denial. His voice was choked and airy, roughened with the primordial rumble he couldn't shake after his brutal maiming of their enemy. He slowly peeled his quivering hand away from her body to reveal the healthy stain of her life fading, no matter how tightly he clung to it.

.

The hollow crash of her being thrown to the ground at his feet, not long before, reverberated through the resonating walls of his mind containing thoughts too corrupt to focus on comprehension.

.

* * *

 _._

 _'_ _Nice try, but she can look after her damn self!'_

 _._

* * *

.

He whirled his devastated gaze over his shoulder to where the echoes of his own voice poisoned his thoughts. He quickly recoiled, sealing his eyes to deny the barren landscape the presence of his tears, but it didn't stop them from falling upon the cool flesh of the woman he failed to protect.  
.

He was ricocheting between sheer denial and blood-curdling truth, hoping that somewhere in between, a net of hope would catch him as he fell. "Neirah…" He uttered his whisper roughly, peeling her tangled auburn locks away from where the blood on her brow had it clinging to her face. "H-hey, I take it back…" His lips trembled as he tried to force them from displaying his complete devastation. He stared bleakly down into the delicate part of her pretty lips that begged the passage of oxygen denied. Her almost peaceful expression was haunting, deceiving him into believing that there was a chance she could wake from it. "Your lightning's not… it's not so little," came his breathy mock. He choked on the laugh that he tried to force from his aching throat but it came out weak and broken with the sorrowful sting of tears ready to fall. "I couldn't do it…" Words barely formed through the hoarse crack in his voice. "I couldn't handle that… that kinda power…" His gaze started to narrow, hiding the smile that he had tried desperately to display to his unresponsive master.  
.

"This is the part where you fight back, y'know?" He forced out in haggard continuation. "Better take advantage of this, princess, 'cause it's a one-time deal." The gentle and trembling strokes of his fingers against the curves of her face grew rougher with each touch until he had finally slid his hand completely around the back of her neck to clutch her to his chest.  
.

"Wake up," he begged meekly. He glared at the dark and lifeless earth around them with empty wild eyes. "What the hell am I going to tell your idiot brother? Huh? Are you seriously gonna put that on me?" He snapped his teeth together in bearing, his blink-less stare burning as the blur of glossy tears started to pool against his eyelids. "I already lost you once, damn it! You can't do this to me again!" He coughed back a devastated cry as he lowered his voice from where it had grown loud with rage and ruin. He'd lost her. Not her brother, not her guild, _he_. He hated that he could only admit the weight of that pain when she was unconscious. "Please don't do this to me again," he pleaded bleakly. "You're the light…" He forced his words through his teeth, burying his face in the matted hair against her neck as he clung to her damaged figure with his remaining strength. "Don't leave me in the dark."  
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"You are not alone, my prince."

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Laxus' expression grew sinister and hardened with fury as his heartache was interrupted by a sickeningly familiar voice. How he'd ever grown to consider the century-old voice familiar had still yet to be determined.

.

"You will always carry her with you." The might ebony beast shifted his hot golden gaze over the contours of the blackened earth. "For she, is the Shadow."  
.

Laxus' gaze flashed bitterly as he all but growled his reply towards his reptilian company. "I don't want your philosophical bull shit right now!" He roared defensively, keeping Neirah close to his chest in a manner that might suggest that he was ready to defend the frail woman from her own guardian. "How long have you been here?!" He demanded boldly. He watched the dragon's mighty golden wings settle comfortably alongside him, casual in all aspects; like he wasn't observing the life of his adopted little slayer fade in the arms of the man at his nose. "Why didn't you help her!?"  
.

"I have always been here, I will always be here," the tired infinite dragon admitted shortly.  
.

"I thought Acnologia killed you when he attacked Tenrou Island?!" Laxus argued fervently. "If that's true, why the hell do I keep running into you!?"

.  
"I assured you before that you are not alone," Ryverika rumbled regally. "A part of me will always reside within Fairy Tail's prince. I thought that was clear when you unlocked the child's memories. You thought you did it without my aid?"  
.

Laxus shook his head, sick of the encryption that both Ryverika and his fiery little spirit child spoke in. "You think I give a crap about any of that right now?!" Laxus raged irrationally. A hatred for Neirah's beast of a father boiled his blood. "Open your damn eyes! This is the second time you've stood by and let her take the fall for _your_ problems! When are you going to wake up and realise that you've put way too high an expectation on her?! She's just a damn kid!" He forced out through the rising pain cracking his voice. "If you want her to save the fucking world, why don't you give her a damn hand instead of watching her constantly fall?!"  
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Ryverika's glistening amber gaze didn't waver as he watched Laxus fall apart with the unusual adjustments around him. After a long moment, the dragon proceeded to converse. "Because _she_ … has yet to fall."  
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Laxus caught his breath, his expression paling with the incredible force of warmth breaking the anguish that had begun to overcome him. "What…?" He hissed his words out weakly, mechanically tipping his gaze back towards the dragon.  
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"I am here to remind you of something that you seem to have forgotten," the dragon majestically dictated. "Mayhap something you feared to admit. What you hold in your arms is the unjustifiable fear that restrains you. It is hard for the selfless to survive…"  
.

"Shut up and tell me what you meant by ' _she hasn't fallen_ '!" Laxus demanded with annoyance. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

.

His heart sank until the crash of it plummeting into the emptiness to wash over him next had his stomach lurching with the weight of Neirah's fading presence. Like a shadow among ashes, he watched in dismay as she vanished from his arms. "No," he demanded desperately. "No!" He raked his fingertips through the earth stained with her presence in hopes to capture the light as he watched it dim completely from his life. After a trembling moment of rage, he cut his furious gaze from beneath his brow to glare at the beast with uncontainable hatred. "What… did you _do_ …?!" He demanded hoarsely through ground molars.  
.

"Neirah was my shadow once," Ryverika started solemnly. "She was the hope that I needed to be strong; to believe in a humanity tainted by greed, by war. Soon, nothing but that hope mattered." The great beast craned his head to one side in direction. "But alone, it was not enough. To be completely devoted to the life of another, to surrender the value of your own existence… leads you to where I stand. I needed that little shadow more than I ever cared to acknowledge. Does that not sound familiar?"

.

Laxus almost refused to take the dragon's bait until light broke through the gloomy skies of his nightmare and redirected his attention to a reality he'd been subconsciously denying. "She is not your light, you are hers. It is children like her who hold you close, that also hold you high. To them, you are invaluable, even when the darkness of your own shadow is all you see in your reflection."  
.

All signs of fury had washed from his features as his wide and trembling gaze stared vacantly forward to where the dragon had turned his attention. "N-Neirah…?"

.

Her helpless whimpers of feeble protest had his heart sinking as she screamed her defiance to the dead air around her. She was still covered in blood, but it wasn't hers; it was his.  
.

Neirah's breath was broken as she wheezed in agony, clinging desperately to the man she'd watched fall for the sake of every one she forced inside her. She had a hard time keeping her breaths even between whimpers as she trembled in shock and horror, her hand tightly pressed against the open wounds next to his heart. "Please… somebody help me," she whispered out breathlessly. It seemed that just speaking the futile words comforted her, even though she knew that they were alone. The heavy flow of her tears gently dripped against the presence lying in her lap. She laid her tear stained face against the top of his head for a long moment, her sealed eyelids forcing hot tear streaks over her dirty face.  
.

Her grip grew tight with anxious fury and she threw her head back with a desperate screech. "Anybody?! Please save him!" She wailed in desperation. She took a moment to scan the area around her through the tears scattering along her cheeks from panicked eyes indicating a complete depletion of her magical energy. She had given it all to him. "Useless!" She cried shrilly. She tucked her chin back towards her chest and bared her teeth in devastation. "Useless, useless, USELESS!" She recoiled on her denial, arms trembling weakly around him as another agonised cry pierced the air.

.

"Please no… I can't… I'm so sorry," she whined tenderly in surrender. She brushed his bangs to one side before laying her forehead against his. "I didn't know… I should have listened… I sho-" She choked on her words, her voice hoarse from her pitiful screams as she lingered between raging denial and complete helplessness. "Laxus," she whispered weakly. She winced with her attempts at healing when she had no power left to support the effort. "Please… Laxus, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would hurt you… I thought… I didn't… I didn't know."  
.

He lifted his hand, moments from calling out to her when his breath caught behind his teeth and his fingertips flexed with restraint. If what he was seeing was true, she wouldn't have heard him anyway. Even though he wanted to, he couldn't turn away from her; even as she apologised repeatedly for her infractions earlier that day. He couldn't stand the thought of their fight being the last memory she had of her time with him. He watched in dismay as her deep sapphire gaze narrowed on her victim before the most blood-curdling wail of agony pierced the dead air around her. "Laxus! Please wake up!"  
.

His heart stopped, his skin crawling with the eerie confirmation of his suspicion as she recoiled just enough for him to lay eyes on his own unconscious figure in her lap. He closed his eyes to deny the sight, hoping that when he opened them again, he'd shift locations and wake against her. He would take the slow but steady bead of blood leaking from his chest over the pain of watching her suffer any longer. "No," he forced out with trembling breaths. "That's impossible!" He snarled in denial, whirling to face Ryverika. "Just what the hell is going on here!?"  
.

"Neirah has humbly only ever asked one thing of this miracle called life," Ryverika started softly. "And that is to be the reason that you are never alone. The child went through a great deal in her life, the thought of seeing you smile giving her a reason to move forward even as hope for her future faded." Laxus turned and watched as Neirah cried, clinging to his lifeless figure in a hauntingly similar manner to the way he had her moments before. "Every shadow exists because somewhere, there is light. Each shadow represents the hope that every hero needs to remind them of their strengths." Laxus didn't break his concentration as he watched Neirah cry out a second time. "As dark as you believe you are, she sees your light. She needs you to shine."  
.

Neirah sealed her eyes to deny the world her pain, but the tears refused to stop flowing over her dirty cheeks. She hadn't even wanted him there. Laxus, Gajeel; the fact that they had followed her into the darkness in which she plunged had bothered her since the first. Infinity Dragon's pitiful little guild had a purpose that she was determined to see come to light, but that was never of their concern. Her brother had followed her because they had never known a life without one another. But she could never figure out why Laxus had done the same. She wanted to tear her heart from inside her chest to deny her pain.

.

She was the ill-appointed guild master of their little faction, but even so, he had defied her at every turn; constantly challenging every decision she made. Even if she had to admit that most of these arguments saw her to minor epiphanies, she hated the friction constantly dragging them to odds.

.

But he was there to fight her in the first place.

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When she had fallen to her enemy on a poorly thought out whim, he had been the one to save her. Not her brother. Not their late first master's loyal following.

.

It was him.

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She pressed her palm more tightly to the bloodied hole ripped through his chest. "Laxus…" She mewled weakly as she adjusted and curled her palm against his neck, trying desperately to sense a pulse. "You have to get up," she demanded inaudibly upon laying her head on his shoulder. "There are still… so many things you've got to keep me from saying…" Her fingers crawled up his neck until they could tangle themselves in his hair and draw him towards her breast. "You're such a jerk… and I'll never completely forgive you for forgetting the day we met…" She laid her cheek against his brow and let a heartbroken grimace clench her teeth in bearing. "But I love your smile," she breathed out whimsically. "And you never stop believing in me."  
.

Ryverika watched silent tears roll over the man's face as he watched himself break the young girl's heart. "Stop me…" Her weak whisper caused chills to skitter over his skin with her desperate demand. "Please, if there was any hope, you wouldn't let me admit that I've fallen in lo-" His breath caught as he watched her trembling lips stop before she had completed uttering her sentence, fresh hot tears boiling dark trails in her dusty skin all over again. "I lo-…"  
.

He flinched with the passion that tore through dusk's blanket when she articulated her disbelief. "No! You can't b-! You're too strong!" She screeched, tensed fingers holding onto feigning hope. "Laxus, please don't die!" His breath grew harsh with the intake of it through his agonised grimace, his fist clenching dangerously tight at his side as he watched on; helpless to silence her tears. "Stop me from saying it!" She raged. "You've always cut me off, right before I could tell you-!" She shook her head from side to side before laying her lips against his cheek in hopes that his absent state would grant her the courage she needed to divulge in her heart's truths. "That you're everything to me… I can't do this without you! Please, wake up!"  
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"Why?" Laxus growled bitterly beneath his breath, glaring back at the mighty beast with a heavy heart. "Why are you showing me this if I can't do anything about it?"  
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Ryverika lowered his head to the earth and looked squarely at the man. "She exists for you, to make you strong, to help you shine," the beast admitted certainly. "You will fight to be near her. I can see that. All that is to be learned is the value of a life you lost faith in."  
.

"You're gonna be seeing fucking stars if you don't put me back where I belong," Laxus fumed impatiently. He was too twisted in agony over the pain he was bringing his companion to worry that he'd just threatened one of the mightiest dragons to ever draw breath.  
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Ryverika's rumbling laugh had the rowdy slayer cringing with uncertainty. "Yes," Ryverika started slowly. He looked back to where Neirah clung to the man. He'd known the moment that he saw the way the girl beamed delight the day she had first met the boy in her lap that they were meant to find each other again someday. He'd worked hard to see to that. "By her side… That does seem like a good place to put you, doesn't it?" Laxus flinched when the beast looked his way again. "For that reason, my prince, you will survive. Remember this day well when next you fill with doubt." Scars of Ryverika's light reopened in Laxus' mind when the golden rays filled the vacant skies, reminding him of the day he watched Neirah fall from oceanside cliffs. After the moment had passed and left him blind, he felt something he'd thought he'd never feel again.  
.

* * *

.

 _She was pleased with the warmth human companionship had offered her that day…_

 _._

* * *

.  
"I had one purpose… to be the shield that defends the lives of those with the power to preserve humanity," Neirah whispered softly before throwing her head back with a defiant hiss. "But I'm useless. And I ca- I couldn't…" Sorrow overwhelmed her words as they were quietly uttered in defeat. "Not when… I can't even protect the man I lo-"

.  
Her startled squeal was gentle and filled with surprise when she felt his muscles contract powerfully beneath her and when his hand wrapped tightly in the material of her hooded cloak, her heart stopped. She grew painfully still for a long moment with silent tears streaming down her face as he shifted weakly against her, relying on her presence to support his attempts at stirring. She cried out gently with the uncertain stumble she felt tear through him and she threw her arms around him to keep him from falling away from her. The moment he coughed out his first haggard breath since she'd watched him fall, the glitter of deepest gratitude flooded her warm and affectionate expression. "Laxus," she whimpered gently as she watched him attempt to straighten. "You-" She shuddered with a shrill gasp, throwing her arms around him and clinging tightly to the hope that was his staggering breaths. She had a million words to say to him, a million smiles and delighted squeals to fill his ears, but she was having a hard time organising them appropriately. "Laxus I-"  
.

Her breath shortened when his palm fell heavily against her shoulder with his struggle and concern flashed across her gentle features. Before she could react much, he had pressed his forehead strongly against hers. The force had her fighting to stay upright with his clumsy effort and sudden display of passion. In the next moment, his eyelids finally rose so that he could look back at the trembling waves rippling through her ocean blue gaze. Her reserve shattered when he curled his fingers around the back of her neck, trapping her recoiling figure against him. "Don't say it…" His demand was faint, assuming that he knew the concluding half of her sentence before it had been completed.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Well, I've got news for you! The kid didn't care that you two always fought. She didn't care that you didn't say those things she obviously wanted to hear." Gajeel continued heatedly, throwing his finger out in accusation towards the off-guard lightning wizard. "All she ever wanted from you was a god damned smile!"_

 _._

* * *

.

His weak gaze wasn't long denying her its presence once more when the efforts he struggled to offer moved south to curl his lips into the most assuring of smiles. "I wanna be the first one to say it." She didn't try to hold her tears back as he laid his trembling fingers against her cheek, his thumb catching the tail of her dark tattoo. After a soft squeak, her desperate whimpers turned into the most broken of laughs as she smiled back at him, throwing both hands up against his face.  
.

"Then say it," she challenged tenderly. She was sure that the wounded man couldn't possibly know the way she had intended to complete her sentiment. "Because any minute now, I'm going to kill you for scaring me like-"  
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She was interrupted sharply by the pressure of his lips crashing desperately against hers. She wanted to be angry for his rash advance, but she was far too thankful to have the feeling of his racing heartbeat reaching her fingertips. She whimpered softly when he pulled away, bracing his brow against hers once more. Her comprehension grew fuzzy, her racing heartbeat filling her crimson-tipped ears as she tried to comprehend his suddenly overwhelming display of affection towards her. "And I don't care what that old lizard says," Laxus started certainly to force the inquisitive twist in her expression to grow. "You're always gonna be my light."

.

* * *

.

He had no interest in paying mind to the delicate woman dressing his wounds against her fiancé's will. She may have been a skilled healer, but he would have bled dry to have had her presence replaced.

.

"You are lucky the Empress returned you when she did," Arihana cooed delicately. She swept her long silver hair back over her shoulder to keep it from becoming bloodied. "It's a wonder you survived wounds so grievous for the journey back."

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Laxus raised his lethargic gaze to where the shaggy navy bangs of the young woman's husband-to-be were tossed from his brow.

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"Ch'yeh… right. Wonder not. S'A damn shame is what it is."

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"Damion!" Arihana scolded sternly.

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"Are we done here?" Laxus growled intolerantly while staggering to his feet. His body didn't want to see him mobile, but his heart wanted to see him parted from such abrasive company.

.

He didn't bother to catch Damion's beady and resentful ebony glare as he passed by. He was exhausted enough without rehashing the past. Infinity Dragon's first master may have fallen to spare Laxus' life, but the act wasn't demanded nor did he consider it necessary. Kairyn had an agenda all his own and Laxus refused to be held accountable for involuntary actions by the rest of the guild. He had broad enough shoulders, capable of carrying the weight of resentment his guildmates presented. He had done it his whole life as a faerie, he'd see it done his remainder as a dragon.

.

He didn't let on how relieved he was to take a seat on the other side of the dank building assaulting his senses. Infinity Dragon had grown and become a humble guild of six plus an exceed, all congregating in a poorly constructed little shack burrowed beneath a hollowed-out rock face. Water leaked from the ceiling beams onto dusty floors and the entire area reeked of mossy brine. It was dark and humid, the air so thick it was hard to breathe.

.

And he had never felt closer to home; the one he felt he deserved, at least.

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He didn't particularly care for the accommodations. Recognition had seen him living a pretty comfortable, even lavish, at times, lifestyle. He'd never had to worry about where he'd lay his head, or where his next meal would come from. Things that she'd had to worry about since the day she was born.

.

Tired steel eyes looked back to where a wounded Neirah waged war with her beloved big brother, each refusing to admit their wrongs in the day's proceedings. She had cherished so little in her twenty-two years of life. A musty old sketchbook, pages filled with broken memories of time past. A raggedy stuffed cat toy with twisted whiskers and a torn paw, the first gift she ever received from a man that would rather die than admit he took pity on his bratty little sister.

.

A smile.

.

Wounds may have seen him ache that evening, but they paled in comparison to the true demon's writhing inside him thanks to Ryverika's mystical prying. It was all the little things that he took for granted; the way she wrinkled her nose and stomped her foot when she was mad, the way she fidgeted when she was nervous. It could be a hundred degrees where she stood and she'd still rub her arms like she was trying to banish a chill.

.

Ever since his return from Tenrou, they'd been a hurricane in winter, raging out of control no matter how out of place their grudges stood. They fought, they teased. She was beautiful, something he'd only admitted to himself, something she never could. And instead of helping her see it, he'd shut her out.

.

He watched her storm off in a huff, leaving Gajeel to stammer out his defence to an exasperated Pantherlily. She may have grown stronger every day, but no matter how much wrath seethed inside the kingdom's tiny infinite dragon slayer, her adorable tantrums would always make him smile.

.

"You forget, this is Shadow's fight, Gajeel. We're only here to help."

.

"I'm helping! I'm helping her to not get dead!" Gajeel demanded whilst looming over his furry companion.

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"Oh yeah?"

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Gajeel's grim demeanour didn't warm any when Laxus decided to interrupt his raving.

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"Didn't seem like you were doin' a real great job of that a few hours ago."

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Gajeel cut a venomous gaze back at him, his surprise for Laxus' outburst barely noticeable beneath the frustration he harboured. "You wanna run that by me again?"

.

Laxus raised his gaze to meet the iron dragon's, trying his hardest to mask the desperation in it. He hated untethering the bonds that had started to stitch them back together after years of feuding had seen them arch rivals. He still remembered the day Gajeel came to him in Neirah's room, broken inside and missing his little sister. He sought the only one who could help him start healing that day, the only one strong enough to take the brunt of the wrath boiling over inside the iron dragon for their loss.

.

* * *

.

 _He had the spare key to her house in his pocket, he always had, but he didn't bother reaching for it before his hand was on the doorknob. There wasn't a doubt in his mind as he turned it, and as he suspected, it had opened without the use of the little steel artefact. Since his conversation with Levy that afternoon, his steps weren't nearly as heavy, but he knew for sure that they would be heard by the individual he was absolutely certain was lurking in the shadows of the home that had been vacant since Neirah's disappearance and supposed death. He kept his guard up in case he was suspected as an intruder, but no such interference had come; which was a relief because he didn't think he would survive it. It was so strange to consider that the man inside might act more like a guard dog to the memory of the departed than another grieving mortal being. It left him undeterred as he stepped into her warm home, the sun spilling into rooms filled with happiness and fond memories. But in that moment, he felt a cool breeze sweep past him as he treated her cherished possessions like demons dancing on rocky faces of a dragon's dim and lifeless den. They mocked him with impish grins, encouraging him to his doom as he approached the beast resting at the end of the cavern's trail._

 _._

 _He tried to ignore that her scent still lingered in the empty room's he crossed, dust particles dancing in the midday sunlight as it spilt through the windows over her belongings. His reserve shook with the catch in his breath and he was forced to swallow the dry rasp that was undoubtedly going to show anguish when next he spoke. He reminded himself that he was there for Levy and the other fretting hearts of the Fairy Tail guild who still held the vanishing man in regard. Nobody had suspected that he would take Baby Blacksteel's disappearance so hard… not even the brother that sought him out._

 _._

 _He paused and stared at her bedroom door, his heart sinking with dread, and in that moment, he wished with all he had that Levy had shown up herself, by his side even. He looked down into the palm of his glove before tightening his quaking fist in determination, Levy's encouragement still ringing in his ears. He raised his gaze and took the last step forward, his fingers resting on the partially opened door for only a brief moment. With the force of his fingertips leaving the wooden surface, the door swung open with a solemn whine. He lingered in the doorway for a long moment; there was no turning back._

 _._

 _He didn't even bother to wonder why no one had thought to check Neirah's home earlier, but as he suspected, sitting on her bed with his forearms on his knees and head hung low was their missing lightning dragon. He took a step forward only to still with the sound of paper beneath his feet. He quickly retracted his approach and diverted his gaze to observe that the man had dug out a bunch of Neirah's paintings and strewn them about the floor and walls; paintings that he had never cared to see when the eager girl had offered him an audience before. Her memories and dreams scattered the room for Laxus' viewing in a humble attempt to feel closer to the woman he'd never allowed himself to get to know._

 _._

 _Gajeel's_ _gaze shifted back towards where he still hadn't been greeted before finally stepping around the various images that lay on the floor. "I thought I'd find you sulkin' around here," he started hoarsely. He tried to remain as abrasively casual as a despairing man could._

 _._

 _Gajeel's blood chilled as a rather weighted, hostile steel gaze finally rose his way, but that's what he'd gotten for stirring the beast who'd been dwelling hopelessly on the past for almost a month straight. Gajeel forced a dry swallow down his itching throat and hoped that Laxus didn't intend on baring fangs. The dark circles bragging the man's exhaustion meant nothing when provoking that kind of power._

 _._

 _"_ _That implies that you were lookin' for me…" Laxus rumbled hoarsely. He could hear Neirah's voice repeating his words in the back of his mind with his quote. He shifted his gaze to the floor in acceptance to Gajeel's presence but it remained far from warm. "Something I'm given to understand you don't do often."_

 _._

 _The iron dragon drew some form of comfort in the submission of a man he'd found dangerous to him on a good day, much less a day he'd sought out the broken-hearted beast who'd finally tipped over the deep end with unprecedented sorrow. They had never seen eye to eye, especially on the subject of Gajeel's little sister, but Levy was right. Maybe that was the reason it had to be Gajeel to offer the hand of reassurance. "Look, you've got everyone freaked. No one's seen you for weeks and the old man's gettin' worried," he rushed out impatiently. He'd almost felt he'd have more luck talking to the pictures than his stony target._

 _._

 _"_ _Tch, so he sent_ _ **you**_ _to check on me?" Laxus' unimpressed grumble was vacant, clearly intolerant to the other man's presence. "He's even more senile than I thought." He slowly climbed to his feet, the mechanical act leading Gajeel to suspect that he'd been sitting in one spot for quite a while. "I don't care if they are worried. I don't have anythin' to say to them."_

 _._

 _Laxus didn't have a single breath to prepare for the restless iron fist that struck him, knocking him to the side of the room with the relentless and clearly unrestrained force of Gajeel's fury. He cut his gaze sharply to where Gajeel's shadowed expression hung heavy as he panted softly with the emotional strain of his thoughts._

 _._

 _"_ _If you think that you're the only one this hurts… you've got another thing comin'," he snarled bitterly._

 _._

 _"_ _Listen! I don't need this from y-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Get it together, Sparky, and stop feelin' sorry for yourself!" The force of the next strike Gajeel had offered in his direction was even fiercer than the last and had Laxus' hand reaching out to the side table next to Neirah's bed to seek stability. He tipped his gaze to where his fingers met the surface of one of Neirah's paintings and his resolve shook until he didn't think he'd be able to hide it from her big brother's interrogating glare. He slowly shifted his fingers to reveal a painting she'd done of herself with a particularly familiar set of faces. When he raised his observation to where one of the painted faces denied their gaze to him in the flesh, the soft presence of tears was meeting the display of Gajeel's bared teeth with the force of his restraint. He lowered his gaze and pushed the picture of Neirah with Gajeel and Pantherlily aside, a sickening roll of emotions welling inside as he watched her big brother fall apart before him._

 _._

 _"_ _I get that you had things that you didn't get to say to the kid before we lost her," Gajeel rumbled softly. He slowly raised his devastated crimson gaze. "But that's your own damn problem." Laxus raised his gaze back to Gajeel's with guilt in his exhausted expression. "But all this mopin' around and hidin' from the rest of the guild… like you're the only one who misses her…" Gajeel threw a furiously tight fist out in front of him with his heartbroken shout of defiance. "Like you're the only one who cared!" Laxus flexed his fist, biting back his defensive retorts as Gajeel continued, feeling like maybe he was the only one strong enough to take the hits Gajeel needed to land to let go. "Well, I've got news for you! The kid didn't care that you two always fought. She didn't care that you didn't say those things she obviously wanted to hear." Gajeel continued heatedly, throwing out a finger in Laxus' direction with his accusation. "All she ever wanted from you was god damned smile!"_

 _._

 _Laxus tipped his bewildered gaze Gajeel's way with the force of a strong sense assuring him that there was more to the story. "You remember that time she ran into you fifteen years ago? Well, she never forgot how lonely that spoiled little brat looked. The day before that stupid parade the guild throws, y'know, the one you fucked up? The kid told me all about it."_

 _._

 _"_ _Shut up!" Laxus snapped back at him sternly with a hoarse crack in his voice as the painful memories rose. He hadn't meant to be so vulnerable to the sentiment in Gajeel's words, but his depressing stagnation over the past few weeks had seen his resolve visibly shattered, allowing emotions he'd rather hide to leak through the cracks. "I was there! You don't need to-"_

 _._

 _"_ _But here's what you weren't around for!" Gajeel interrupted intensely. "The kid asked me to track your sorry ass down in Magnolia and be your friend all so you wouldn't look so damn miserable anymore! It came straight from 'er mouth the day before you decided that none of the rest of us were good enough to be your pals!"_

 _._

 _Gajeel shook his head with a furious curse, finding common ground with the man he was sent to liberate as his tears were joined. "The kid spent most of her whole life taggin' along with me. I only paid attention to half of what she rambled about, but I did get that someone important kept her interested in this damn town." Gajeel never thought in a million years it would be Laxus. "She thought you were the coolest thing goin' but I couldn't just roll over and be buddies with someone so clueless." He threw himself back against her dresser with a conclusive sigh. "It probably tore the kid apart realising that the two jerks she cared about the most couldn't stand the sight of each other. The way she lit up everytime her hero smiled down at 'er? I used to be her hero ya know…" He turned his gaze towards Laxus who was watching him carefully with balled fists trembling at his sides. "But she never forgot that favour she asked me all those years ago. She's probably sittin' somewhere now wondering why I ain't beatin' it out of ya… I should too…"_

 _._

 _"_ _So, your first order of business as my new pal was to knock some sense into me?"_

 _._

 _Gajeel's expression wavered for a moment with the dark catch in Laxus' voice. "Guess so," he admitted roughly. "Did it work?" An appreciative smile found his face as he watched the subtlest of curls in the other man's lips with the roots of a smile._

 _._

 _"_ _Yeah," Laxus admitted softly. He casually brushed the light dusting of tears from his face with the back of his forearm. "Y'Did alright, Screwball…"_

.

* * *

.

Laxus' fist tightened at his side, his frustration with himself stinging fresh wounds. It was the second time they'd almost lost each other for good, and like a stubborn, juvenile fool, he still hadn't admitted to her that he died a little more every time their paths diverged.

.

He couldn't hide from it this time, though. Too many prying eyes watched as he struggled to regain his strength after a blow that should have claimed his life. Despite Ryverika's warnings, he wished it had. It would've saved him from the self-loathing, the unbearable disgust with himself for being so unfeeling towards the only one that cared if he didn't make it back. He had to blame someone, someone needed to take the heat of the flames raging inside him simply because he couldn't consciously battle himself and the darkness inside him.

.

Gajeel's gaze flickered, his coarse words the only thing concealing his concern for the man he'd recently come to terms with. "You get smart? Or are you trying to pick out which words are gonna be yer last?"

.

"You weren't there…" Laxus whispered grimly. He was still unsure of if he wanted to rouse the iron dragon into a confrontation, still assessing the weight of their newfound friendship. He cut his hazy gaze back at Gajeel from beneath his brow, static leaping from his fist as he prepared to unleash his frustrations. "We almost lost her again, and you weren't there…"

.

* * *

.

 _Laxus sighed and turned away from Neirah's tender smile as her heart warmed with an appreciation for the presence of the people she loved most. "I don't know why, but hearin' about her past really pisses me off," he admitted in vague consideration of the iron dragon's inquiry. "I hate knowing that she was suffering and no one did anything about it." Laxus dropped his gaze to his shaking fist, watching as it tried to grasp time itself._

 _._

 _After a brief moment, he cast his weary gaze back to where a wounded Neirah smiled down at the sketchbook she'd always loved so much. "I guess the part that hurts the most is that I know she smiled through it like she's smilin' through this. Over the stupidest little things... like that old book or that ratty cat. And when I stop to realise that she had nothing... it makes me want to give her… everything..." He peeked over his shoulder to where Gajeel was lingering nearby, listening patiently for the conclusion of his sentiment. "She spent her whole life tryin' to find me... for a smile. Even if it's the last thing I want to do... how can you look down at hers and not give her one back?"_

 _._

 _Gajeel denied his gaze with a sly grin, a soft snort escaping with his amusement. "Better be careful," he cautioned. He looked back towards his restless comrade. "Or people are gonna start thinkin' yer a nice guy." Gajeel smiled in approval, joining Laxus in their silent guard over their wounded little infinite dragon. "I always hoped the kid'd settle down with a nice guy..."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

It would be easy to mask, she wouldn't suspect that what he was feeling was anything more than frustrations with the man who claimed to be her guardian since they'd met. Gajeel and Laxus had fought over stupider.

.

His teeth ground to stifle the hoarse catch in his breath. His fist started to shake and his chest ached with guilt. "You weren't there to keep her safe," Laxus murmured beneath his breath. "You left it to me… and I fucked it up." He couldn't. He wished he could vent his bottled frustrations, but he couldn't bring himself to take Gajeel down with him.

.

He ignored the softening of Gajeel's expression, it wasn't what he needed. He had pushed her right into the enemy's clutches because of the tension still brewing between them; because he couldn't fess up to the way she made him ache for salvation. He needed an attack, to suffer, to feel like he somehow got what he deserved. But all he had to show for it at the end was the stain of her warmth holding him and thanking him. _Thanking him._

.

For what?

.

Laxus whirled away, narrowly reining in his desire to strike out at the unstable beams around him. "Don't fucking do it again!" He roared wrathfully, still uncertain as to who he was demanding it of.

.

Pantherlily was the cobra to strike when the insult was offered to his dearest friend. The tiny cat stepped forth, his paw thrust out towards the thrashing lightning dragon in Gajeel's defence. "That is an unnecessary weight to put on one member of the guild! Even a small one!" Lily demanded fervently. "It isn't Gajeel's responsibility, we should all be looking out for each other!"

.

Pantherlily was interrupted before he could say much more, Gajeel's stern expression shaking his head to silently detour the feline into digging a deeper grave. Lily met the silent purpose of Gajeel's understanding, and in due time. The exceed shivered with the tightening of the back they were offered and feared he may have overstepped in Laxus' eyes. The last thing they needed was to fight amongst themselves when the rest of the world was at their throats as it was. The message received was that the lightning dragon was not to be provoked, under _any_ circumstance.

.

'Why am I here?' Laxus thought bleakly to himself, neglecting to shift even after Gajeel and Pantherlily had left him to brood.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _I know it's not going to be easy for them to accept, but I have to do this; the only thing Kairyn couldn't." Neirah turned away and balled her fists at her side, grinding her teeth with the force she used to keep her bitter tears from falling. "It was Ryverika's will." She gasped when his shadow cast next to hers on the ground and she felt his fingers absently working the tension from her fists so that they could lazily intertwine with hers._

 _._

 _"_ _So was I," he murmured softly._

 _._

 _Neirah's breath caught as her attention shot in his direction, her gaze resting on unshaken resolve as he looked out over the path unfolding before them. "Laxus…" She whimpered softly to the heat of his fingertips against hers, reassuring as her first tears fell from her wide and trembling gaze. "It's not about saving the world anymore, or something so cliché… It's about revenge, for Ryverika, for Kairyn..." She shook her head softly with the pain of her denial. She knew how badly Kairyn and Laxus had fought but she still honoured the memory of the man enough to preserve it. "I can't ask Fairy Tail's prince to be a part of that."_

 _._

 _Laxus slowly tipped his gaze towards her, the determination of his features ascertaining the fact that she wasn't leaving alone. "You don't have to."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

He sealed his eyes tightly, hoping that, in the act, he might find some sort of bearing. 'Why am I-?'

.

"Alright, Screwball, look alive."

.

Coming out of his daze, Laxus diverted his attention to where their guild master approached her big brother at his back. She had a strip of gauze between her teeth, tightening it around her wounded arm.

.

"I need you to stand watch while I head into town."

.

"Screw that!" Gajeel demanded fervently. "I ain't lettin' you go off like that! Yer barely standin'!"

.

"Although crudely put, Gajeel has a point," Pantherlily reasoned. "If you left now, you wouldn't be returning until after dark. And in the state you're in-"

.

"That's why I'm the one going," Neirah rebutted. "I need you to watch over the others, I can't have you playing gofer when you're the most able-bodied defence we have right now."

.

"An' what am I? Chopped l-"

.

"Not now, Damion," she seethed through pinched teeth and gauze.

.

"At least take Lily with you," Gajeel suggested impatiently through his teeth. "At least then you can get out if trouble finds you."

.

She completed her hack bandage job with a sigh. "Don't start this," she warned sternly. "If something happens back here, Lily can get to me faster than anyone else." She heaved a heavy sigh of exasperation to try and calm her eager nerves. "Just, please, do what I say. Nobody is going to come after me in the city, not where there are witnesses to Ghoul Knight's shady deeds. You have to remember that they're posing as a legitimate guild. Nobody knows of their ties with Marionette and Austalian Elitists."

.

"Shadow, I ain't-"

.

"I'll go…"

.

The three conversing were silenced as Laxus threw himself into their dispute. "No way," Gajeel denied. "You heard Frosty. Yer lucky to be alive much less walkin'."

.

Laxus slowly rolled his exhausted gaze to confront the iron dragon beyond words. "I've walked away from worse…"

.

Gajeel lingered on the underlining messages his brain was trying desperately to process. As a big brother, he wanted to knock Laxus' teeth in for even thinking about trying to sneak in some alone time with his kid sister. As a friend and teammate, he secretly felt like he owed him at least that much. "Damn it! Am I the only one with any sense around here?!" Gajeel demanded passionately.

.

"There's a scary thought…" Pantherlily mumbled.

.

Neirah watched the conversation unfold for a moment before offering a soft smile in response, being intelligent and capable of picking up on the subtle hints the men thought they were passing over her head. "Ok," she concurred softly. "I'll take Laxus."

.

"Logic? What's logic?" Gajeel demanded while throwing his arms up in the air with his defeat as he stormed away.

.

"I think it's a fine idea," Pantherlily added. He supported the suggestion with a small smile on his lips as he folded his arms over his chest. "I'll alert you if there is any unwarranted activity tonight."

.

"Excellent."

.

Pantherlily nodded his head towards their master who had become incredibly mousey since Laxus had joined their company. "Until then, Master."

.

Neirah diverted her gaze bashfully with Lily's formalities. "I hate it when they call me that," she murmured sheepishly. She tried to avoid making eye-contact with the lightning wizard after what they'd experienced that morning together.

.

"Like it or not, you're the head of this little operation. They're just being respectful."

.

She smiled weakly. "Are you sure you're up to the task? It's a long walk into town from here."

.

"Yeah," he swiftly ascertained. "But we should really get going," Laxus cautioned solemnly. His mind was still in too many places to be planning his next steps. "It's going to start getting dark soon, and if you had anythin' meaningful to do in town, we'll have to beat closing time."

.

Neirah looked up at his diverted expression, not sure whether she liked it that way or craved his direct attention when he spoke. No matter what happened between them, they could never seem to find common ground. "You're right," she agreed tenderly. "I guess we should go."


	2. Say it Twice

**Say It Twice**

* * *

.

.

"'Ere ya go, miss," came the friendly drawl of the man returning Neirah's basket. "It was good of you to come to town so late. Make's an ol' fisherman appreciate that he stayed out all day."

.

Neirah's brow knotted as she pondered his tale and she slipped her hood back up over her ears in preparation to carry on her way. "Business is poor during the day?" She couldn't help but pry, passing off the fish and vegetables she'd purchased to her quiet companion. "How strange. These types of markets are usually bustling from dawn to dusk."

.

"Aye, but lately, at least, things ain't been right," he informed with a wary look in his dusty hazel eyes. "Real seedy group of wizards've been stalkin' around and scarin' away business. "Causin' a decent, reputable guild a real storm of trouble too. Claim to be dragons of some kind. It's a real mess."

.

Neirah raised her fingers to her throat to hide the way it forced the dry words down. "How unfortunate," she murmured empathetically. For good measure, she reached down to see to it that the Infinity Dragon insignia on her outer thigh was well covered by her cloak. "I do hope they find what they're after soon and stop scaring away the good people of the city."

.

"Gosh, that's mighty fine of you miss. Does an old man's heart some good."

.

Her smile was genuine as she beamed back at the kind sir. "I'm glad of it."

.

The old fisherman took pause for a moment and scratched his ashy coloured beard. "You pups ain't from around here are you?"

.

Neirah gave her head a swift shake, trying to remain as honest as possible. "No sir, just passing through."

.

"Figured as much," he grinned back at them expressively. "Well, it's a good thing you brought yer hubby out here fer the travel." The old fisher continued to talk even as Laxus paled guiltily behind the small woman he towered above. "The forests 'round town fill with eerie noises at night."

.

Neirah blinked back at the man inquisitively for a moment, but not because he mentioned the suspicious presence that she knew to be her own guild. "Er, I'm sorry?"

.

"Eerie noises, lassie. Some even claim to hear dragon's roars and see 'ere fire-"

.

"No, no. The first part?"

.

"Ehn?" The old man observed the young woman carefully before looking back to where Laxus repeatedly shook his head. He adjusted his glasses with a bellowing laugh. "Wah hah! Oh, don't mind this old fool, lassie," he expelled in thunderous choir. "All the seawater's startin' to make me see things."

.

Neirah laughed harmoniously with the man, although naively. "Don't be so hard on yourself," she chided. "I have a dear friend waiting for my arrival that I'm sure will just love the fish you've sold me."

.

"Ah, it was truly my pleasure miss-?"

.

Neirah's breath caught as she pondered the uncertain implications of introducing herself by name. If Zade really did have so much influence on that side of the kingdom, there would be no telling how far he'd go to seize her. At the same time, she didn't want to be rude. She stammered out her words in fragments. "Uhm, I-"

.

"Hate to cut this short, old man, but that's our ship," Laxus rumbled. He strategically took Neirah's hand and led her away from the fisherman's inquiry. He thought nothing of the effort at first, but he wouldn't deny that the warmth of her presence set him at ease after nearly losing her that morning. "We'll be sure to stop by next time we're in town."

.

"Til' then, th-" Neirah and Laxus had already had their backs turned, unable to see the immediate drop in the old man's expression upon their hastened retreat. "Just hold on there a minute!" He bellowed after them in demand.

.

"Crap," Laxus hissed eagerly. His grip on Neirah's hand tightened defensively as sparks crawled over his knuckles like frightened serpents. They could send a hundred to try and arrest them, it wouldn't stop him from tearing them apart. "I was hopin' to avoid this."

.

"I'm sorry," she mewled softly. Her own grip on his hand instinctively tightened with her anxiety for the impending conflict. Neither of them were in a condition to be fighting. "I shouldn't have lingered."

.

"If the old man sounds the alarm, I want you to ghost the hell out of here in the shadows, got it?"

.

"Laxus!" She whispered in outraged denial.

.

"Just do i-!"

.

"You! Boy!"

.

Laxus flinched before turning and facing the man again, barely catching the sight of the bounding figure behind the material of his cloak hood.

.

"Shame on you for makin' an old man guess!"

.

Laxus cast his gaze to Neirah, she did the same to him.

.

"Sorry?" Laxus mumbled tentatively. Both he and Neirah shuddered when the old man grabbed a hold of his belly and let out a jolly laugh.

.

"You're Makarov's boy!"

.

There was a hitch in Laxus' breath as the association was made.

.

"Well, not 'is, but a descendant of his. Blah, blah, listen to me! Prattling on like a child in front of wizarding royalty," he gave another hearty chuckle. "You've come from Fairy Tail then?"

.

Laxus diverted his gaze in the same moment Neirah focused on encrypting hers. "Not any-"

.

"Yes," Neirah interrupted equally as strategically. "Yes, we have."

.

She had become the queen of half-truths lately.

.

"My word!" The man roared with delight. "It's about time they shipped some top-notch pest control out here!" He lowered his tone and wiped a delighted tear from his eyes that had raised by force of his laughter. "My word," he repeated quietly. "Well, this is a rare treat indeed."

.

Neirah replaced her apprehensive smile. "You honour us, sir."

.

"Hah, no, the honour is all mine miss-?"

.

Neirah felt much better introducing herself with his enthusiastic embrace. "Neirah," she purred gently.

.

"Neirah. Neirah… Joko. That's what 'ey call me by. S'A damn pleasure Miss Neirah. I hope we chat again real soon." Neirah nodded her agreement before turning to set their course of retreat but no more than a breath later, the man was interrupting them a final time.

.

"'Ey lad!"

.

Assuming that Joko was speaking with him, Laxus expectantly turned to face him.

.

"I didn't catch yer name."

.

Laxus thought on the request for a moment, unsure of why he had already expected to be swept under his grandfather's shadow for the umpteenth time. There was a flicker of hesitation in his wavering gaze before he finally replied.

.

"It's Laxus… sir…"

.

Joko gave a hearty nod and a tender smile as he waved them off. "Laxus, I reckon I'll remember that one!"

.

Laxus watched him for another long moment, completely forgetting that his fib had already encouraged them away from company prematurely. Looking back at the man appreciatively, Laxus found the smallest of smiles gracing his expression.

.

Neirah watched the recognition warm her companion and in doing so, her brow creased over her gentle smile. Reminding him of their situation, she gently reached out and repeated the unexpected gesture he had offered her a moment before. Without another word, she curled her fingers around his hand and took a silent step forward.

.

Laxus' heart missed a beat as he was guided through the quieting market. Shops all around them were closing their doors for the night but they had managed to get the supplies that Neirah had come for before dusk had seen that time upon them.

.

For a moment, he just watched her smile as she walked like _she_ had been the one touched by old Joko's sentiment. He knew that deep down, although Infinity Dragon's master didn't like to talk about it much, she missed the home they had turned from to fight for the cause that, hours before, had almost seen them torn apart. Reminding himself of that morning, he saw his gaze wandering to her bandaged hand in his. His expression weighed negatively as the grim events resurfaced in his mind, and be it conscious or instinctive, his fingers tightened around hers.

.

"What's a hubby?"

.

Laxus shivered with her humble inquiry as they stopped along the street to grant passage to others. "Hmn-?"

.

"A hubby," she continued. She turned her large, curious sapphire gaze to face him with a delicate wrinkle in her nose. Give him demons, give him dragons, but those eyes? "Joko called you a hubby. What's a hubby?"

.

He knew spending time alone with her was going to get awkward after their encounter earlier that day, but he had really hoped that it would take longer. "Er… It's like a bodyguard," he fibbed. He casually reclaimed his hand to slide it back over his neck. "Y'know, personal protector-"

.

One of Neirah's thinned brows cocked in amusement of his staggering retort. "If I ask my brother what a hubby is when we get back, what are the chances he'll give the same answer?"

.

As an artist, he was sure she'd appreciate the palette of reds his cheekbones were in the process of displaying. "It's a slang term," he admitted sheepishly.

.

"For?"

.

It was the guiltless thirst for knowledge, the way her naivety was only as deep as she'd let it be. As a man of few words and even fewer delicate conversational traits, he couldn't stand how eager she was to nail him to the spot. "A husband…" Shortly after his surrender, he admitted that he probably could have been a little more delicate with the truth than he was, but as a straight-to-the-point kind of girl, he was sure she could appreciate his simplicity. Not to mention he was more than willing to spare himself the humiliation of trying to flower his words.

.

Neirah smiled, a normal, regular smile as she diverted her attention like Joko's assumption hadn't made her nearly as uncomfortable as it had made him. "How cute," she mused out loud upon starting along their path again.

.

And there it was, the bitter pain of ice wanting to rob his heart of a beat. It happened every time she outwardly denied that she had any interest in his affections, no matter how playful. It hurt worse this time, though. The sharp pain of his next few breaths had his step hesitant and his fingers reaching to his chest like they thought they could help. A pained hiss caught between his teeth before he realised that maybe the pain he was feeling wasn't for her blatant lack of affection and more the weapon that had pierced his chest that morning.

.

Neirah was a couple steps ahead of him before she realised that she wasn't being followed anymore. With a concerned pout, she slowly turned to look over her shoulder. "Laxus?" A soft little whine found her chest as she rushed to his side at the sight of blood in his raised hand. It was leaking through his bandages. He may have just been looking at his upturned palm as casually as ever, but she couldn't allow him to be observed being so blatantly detached. "Damn, not good," she whined. She pulled the sides of his shirt in towards his chest to cover the leaking wound. "If people see this, they're going to ask questions."

.

He blinked weakly down at her, his unamused expression stony with her utter lack of concern for his well-being. "Yeah, no I'm alright. Thanks for askin'." He snorted impatiently and turned his hushed murmur to one side. "Bitch…" Laxus' eyes widened as she reached out and slapped the unwounded, but still tender, flesh of his left pectoral. He had about a hundred sullied words he wanted to rain down on her head, but, with great restraint, he managed to contain them.

.

"This is no time to be a smart-ass," she scolded while digging through one of her baskets. "You're lucky that half of my reason for coming to town was to get more medicinal supplies for Arihana."

.

Laxus jerked his head to one side as she thrust a paper bag into his arms to cover his wound in her absence. "Great. What was the other half?" He didn't think about his words before he uttered them in disgust above her, but as her rummaging slowed at his feet, he started to offer his own implications a second thought.

.

Neirah's cheeks warmed as she continued to search her purchases. It would do her no good to admit that after the morning they'd had, she had secretly just wanted to be alone with her thoughts. Mainly because, when he had stepped in and offered to accompany her, she forgot all about solitary thoughts and turned them instead to the warmth she'd felt during their intimate encounter that dawn. She wanted to be near him, she wanted to cling desperately to the tenderness she'd experienced in his arms that morning. But then a part of her wanted to be far away from it, far away from the lie that was the man before her.

.

"The other half was the fish that I bought Pantherlily," she assured him curtly as she knelt motionlessly over her belongings. No, two could play the game. His lips had found their way to hers for the second time in their lives but like after the first, nothing came after it. He was as grim and lifeless as ever, and up until she'd suggested leaving, he hadn't said another word to her.

.

She hadn't minded before; before she knew what such an embrace held for value. Joining Infinity Dragon, even under Kairyn's lead, had shown her many things about a simple kiss. Mainly, her education came from the young couple that now served under her. Frost and Wavebreak, Arihana and Damion; they were in love. Their kisses meant the world to them. She feared it hadn't meant much to the only man to ever offer her such an experience.

.

Her mind was going a million miles a minute. The reason he could tell was that her thumb was picking at her middle fingernail, her gaze was searching the dust at her feet for an excuse. He hadn't meant to make her feel uncomfortable, but in the end, it served his purpose just fine. He felt a lot less guilty for the suggestion he was about to make. "Look, it's sundown and this mess isn't gonna be an easy one to patch up in the streets unnoticed." He hated how cheesy he sounded for even suggesting it of a man and a woman so pent with sexual tension you could carve a face in it. "Why don't we get a room here for the night and make our way back first thing. I'm not totally against the idea of a shower." He left out the temperature of the water just in case miss cult innocence picked up on his implications.

.

Neirah whirled to face him swiftly with defiance on her gentle pout. He might've been able to take her more seriously if he hadn't of teased himself with its taste hours before. "I can't just abandon my guild after the day we've had. We didn't find Zade's body after your fight. Laxus, he could still be out there."

.

"Or a pile of ash on the wind," Laxus argued sternly. "Yeah, the sword through the chest kinda hurt, but it wasn't what put me on my ass." His demand refused to budge on the subject. "You were."

.

There it was. The heart-wrenching feeling of guilt twisting its finger in the heart Zade was inches from ripping from his chest. He sucked back a hard breath, his chest aching as his heart raced sporadically beneath it. She looked back at him like a dog he'd kicked and left in the rain all night. She had done what she thought was right and had disputed it internally for long before it was almost too late. She had no idea that the transfer of magical power between them would almost claim his life in the process. "Neirah, I didn't mean-"

.

Neirah's wide and desperate gaze shifted as she watched a drop of fresh blood strike the earth in front of her. He was right. Her actions had almost cost him his life, but by the grace of the gods, it was also what saw them both to safety that day. Her selfish actions still stung open wounds and forced her blood cold. She had almost killed the man she loved, the least she could do was let him get a single night of decent rest before she threw him back into the fire.

.

"No, you're right," she owned upon slowly climbing to her feet. "I was reckless, I didn't think of the effects my magic would have on someone like you."

.

 _Someone like you_. He trapped his words behind ground teeth, trying desperately to refrain from demanding what she'd meant by that statement.

.

"I also never properly thanked you for coming for me," she admitted solemnly. She finally connected their gazes. "You saved my life, and I almost claimed yours in return."

.

"Neirah-" His chest swelled with unintentional warmth when she looked up at him with an appreciative smile.

.

It was nice to hear someone call her by her true name for a change, not Shadow, or Empress. Just Neirah… "I'm not afraid to account for my actions," she sang in a gently playful tone. "And look at it this way, it's because of that that you're going to get your way." She giggled. "And your shower." She reached out and gently patted the uninjured side of his chest. "Come on, Sparky, I think I saw an inn back here somewhere."

.

He didn't know if it was the blood loss or the gently aware sway of her hips as she took to the path ahead that had his knees weak and head light with the haze of reality crackling between channels of perfection. It was that smooth and confident attitude that pushed him forwards when he wanted to fall to the floor. He was a dog on her leash and followed her like one. Followed her to the inn, followed her into battle… to infinity.

.

Having her by his side made him want to be weak, made him want to escape the demons clawing around the dark passages they carved out with his own two hands. But at the same time, he wanted to be strong, to make her proud. He was caught between two very opposing forces, not just then, but every time she joined his presence. He just wanted to be… everything she wanted him to be.

.

He tumbled back into reality when the little bell chimed above the door to the inn that Neirah had held open for him. She waved her free hand out to signal him to enter, and upon passing, made gentle mention of her suggestion. "Keep your wounds concealed," she ordered tenderly while warily eyeing the lobby clerk. She curled her lips into a slight smile as she raised on her toes and laid her lips against his neck. "If anyone asks if they can carry something for you, deny them."

.

All Laxus could do was choke back the salivation her actions rose to his once parched mouth and nod once with her demands. Even after she'd left, the heat of her breath lingered on his skin and made him dizzy. Either that morning had made her brave or she was a better liar than he thought because she had never attempted the like before. His next breath shuddered as he silently prayed she had more to say. He was moments before asking her why she had to explain her demands to him the way she did, but that was before she was trotting her way giddily to the counter with a broad smile.

.

"Such a good hubby," she purred. "Carrying my bags for me."

.

A ruse. Another ruse. He was aching from head to toe with the flow of mixed signals conflicting inside him, tying knots in his veins and keeping his heartbeat irregular. He wanted to be close to her, the more time he spent with her, the more he needed it. But at the same time, he worried that getting his wish might be slowly killing him inside. He wanted to back her into a corner, he wanted to push her away. He wanted to cling to her side, but wanted to keep her far from the secrets he harboured; spare her his monotony and doubt. Then she turned and offered him a tender and affectionate smile, beckoning him forth to follow the attendant by her side. He looked down at her outstretched hand before hesitantly accepting its embrace.

.

It was how she brought him back to life, only to kill him off again.

.

A ruse.

.

Which was the ruse?

.

* * *

.

It wasn't that the assortment of articles he was carrying was particularly heavy, but by the time they had reached the room they were to stay in that night, his arms didn't want to serve their purpose any longer. His vision dimmed when he was met with a blinding view of the harbour sunset out of their fourth story window, in the moment wishing that his arms were a little more available to shield him from the umber assault.

.

He turned away from it instead, a malcontented snort in his next breath. "What do you want me to do with these?" He shrugged the articles out to either side with his inquiry.

.

Neirah's sigh was barely audible when it emitted against the door as she slowly closed it behind them and rolled the lock into the wall frame. "I know what you're trying to do," she murmured gently. She tipped her brow to the wooden slab for a moment of thought.

.

Laxus cocked a brow expectantly as he stared at her back, arms still out and lined with the fruit of their travels. "Great, so I put them…?"

.

She turned to face him with a desperate part-smile as she extended her arm to one side of the room. She hated that every time she wanted to hit him, she also wanted to laugh. "Smart ass," she muttered grimly in stride.

.

Laxus watched her cross the room and close the curtains, almost like the sheer fabric would help, then she was on approach. "Well? You know somethin' I don't?" He reprimanded cynically. "Or are you just trying to make me come clean about the pain?"

.

Neirah gently shook her head before taking him by the wrist and encouraging him to one of the bedsides. "Sit," she ordered sternly. She waited until he complied before she crossed the room again to rummage through her bags and boxes. She returned to him with fresh bandages in tow and took a seat beside him. "You know full well what I meant."

.

He watched her carefully as she reached up to the corner of the bandaging against his shoulder, and that was when he realised that she hadn't looked him in the eye since they'd entered their room. He reached out and interrupted her steady work, snatching her wrist and trying desperately to command her attention. "Y'know, I don't think I do." He hadn't intended on sounding so edgy, but he really was in worse shape than he wanted to allow her to comprehend. "The only thing I'm trying to do right now is keep from makin' this room look like a murder scene. If it's coming off as somethin' else, I'd like in on it."

.

He tipped his chin back with an aggravated scowl when her downcast gaze shifted over the fresh linen at their backs. His irritated scoff was matched by her delicate whimper when he reached out and took her chin between his fingers to redirect the gaze attached. "Look, I'm not in the mood for your head game bullshit right now," he informed her curtly. He was far too separated from reality to really judge the weight of his actions. "I suggested this because you're the one who wants to keep this whole thing out of the public eye. I'm not screwin' around. If I wanted a private audience, it'd be lights out for big brother. I wouldn't come out all this way for that crap." He took a moment to ponder the truth of his own words before his attention was slightly diverting. "At least, I don't think I wo-"

.

"So, this has nothing to do with what happened earlier?"

.

Laxus redirected his gaze to hers and when they met, he almost wished that she had continued to avoid him. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd seen a similar look icing over oceans, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last either. It was a look that made his skin crawl, the only look that could shut him up in an instant for fear of the wrath to follow. "Disappointed?"

.

Neirah half-rolled her gaze and gave her head a light shake before returning her fingertips to his bandages. "I'm not surprised," she assured him rather coldly. "The only time you're not being a jackass is when our lives are in danger."

.

Laxus recoiled with her insult like it was an attack, the contours of his face doing nothing to hide his aggravation. "Well, you aren't exactly sunshine and rainbows on a daily basis either, Princess."

.

Neirah snorted with a wry smile and continued to reach around him to remove the dressing from his wounds. "Well then don't we just make the perfect couple."

.

He wasn't sure why her shrewd remark made his stomach roll like a child anxiously awaiting judgment for their petty misdeeds. He winced with the pressure she laid alongside his wound as she peeled the gauze from his skin. "You've been ragging on me for the past two years now," he scolded. " _Sorry_ for appreciating the few and far between moments that you take your claws out of my fucking back."

.

Neirah drew her hands away from him to lay one set of bloodied fingertips against the bridge of her nose. She puffed out an exasperated sigh as she pinched her eyes shut and gathered her resolve. "Laxus, you're about two layers of tissue away from me being able to watch the sunset through your chest," she quipped venomously.

.

"And whose fault is that?"

.

"Look! I said I was sorry!" Neirah demanded upon pushing herself to her feet. She turned to face him, feeling a little braver once she had claimed the higher ground. "I was _wrong_! What more does that overinflated ego of yours want from me?!"

.

 _Everything._

.

She had never said it, but she had always marvelled at how quickly that man was capable of moving when he really wanted to. That aside, her whimper of surprise was weak with her alarm when he stood before her and in one step had her head backed against the wall beneath his palm. For his weakness in that moment, his opposing forearm braced against the partition to help keep him upright, or his version of it. His head was light from pain and blood loss, but regardless, he wanted her quiet and under his control... for a moment, at least.

.

"Just stop… fighting."

.

Neirah's brow creased as she looked over the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, her breathing shuddering beneath his silencing palm.

.

He let his head hang alongside hers, slowly butting his forehead up against the textured wall at her back. "I'm so sick... of fighting you." It took a lot more effort that he wanted to admit when he raised his hand from her face and crossed his arms above her head. She could see the exhaustion weathering his expression as he looked down at her silently for a moment of thought.

.

Neirah's gaze glossed beneath his shadow as golden rays broke in ripples around his trembling figure. She hated that he tried to deny the perspiration beading on his brow by blinking it away. It was almost like he didn't think she was savvy enough to see through the ruse he perpetrated, the pain he was suffering. She knew he was in agony, and with the way he shook in front of her, a lot of it. "I always feel more comfortable when we're fighting," she admitted with the return of her vulnerable, mousy tone that liked to accompany such moments.

.

She was sure he meant only to blink, but the time his eyelids remained shut made her realise that even primary functions might be proving difficult for him as time progressed. She wasn't sure what was looking back at her in a split moment of weakness, but whatever it was, it looked out of place on the lightning dragon's face. "Why?" He whispered coarsely. That was when she realised that he was exhibiting traits of desperation and longing.

.

Neirah's throat worked and she sealed once absently parted lips. "Because that's all I've known…"

.

"Because that's all you _cared_ to know."

.

She was happy she remained beneath his dark shadow because the heat of the setting sun illuminating the curtains at his back was becoming uncomfortable. "Laxus, I didn't mean-"

.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to feel," he rumbled softly. "I didn't know when I told you I'd help you do this… I still don't know…" He gently rolled his brow from side to side against the wall with his frustration. "When you say my name, say it like that, it doesn't sound right. Not like you."

.

"You're my friend, and I care about y-" She choked on her conclusion when he opened his eyes and looked back at her, the confidence he needed to conceal his sentiment fading with every passing moment.

.

"Is that all I was this morning?"

.

She was growing incredibly uncomfortable beneath him and the intensity of his presence. "Laxus, your wound…"

.

Reasoning took a vacation when he dropped his hand to one of hers and clasped her by her wrist to raise her palm to his heart. "Is on this side."

.

She shook her head repeatedly, not sure whether she wanted to cry or scream with her welling emotional frustration. "Why are you doing this?" She whimpered in broken and weary tones.

.

"Because somewhere between here and the first sunset we faced together, I've stopped being able to tell myself that there's nothing between us. You piss me off sometimes, but then other times, I can't get you out of my head." He released her wrist and drew unsteady hands to either side of her face. "When you fell over those cliffs, my world just stopped turning. Nothing felt real anymore. Not like this." He felt the well of weakness hindering his words when he rolled one thumb over the dark lines tattooed under her eyes. "I know it's never gonna be perfect… but it's good enough for me," he admitted weakly.

.

He watched her for a long moment, her hand still resting against his chest. He felt like an idiot rambling on like he was, not really knowing what he wanted to say or how to say it. The black material of his open shirt on his back was causing him to perspire uncomfortably as the sun beat upon it through the curtains of their accommodations. "Fuck, say something," he begged frustratedly. "I don't have the words for this kind of shit, but you can't honestly be that naïve that you don't get what I'm trying to say."

.

Neirah gently shook her head before raising her hands to his wrists and sliding his fingers from her face. After a quivering inhale she slowly looked back at him. "One thing I never understood about you people, people who grew up on the outside, people who've lived life." Seeing the heart-wrenching twist in his expression, she offered him a small smile for assurance. "You always make things, so complicated…" She diverted her gaze when his shifted curiously before her. "Putting titles on people… like Master, or 'hubby'. You need to label everything you see and feel."

.

"What's wrong with that?" He murmured grimly.

.

She straightened against the wall at her back and tried to keep her hands from shaking as she contemplated what to do with them. "Because it keeps you from saying the things that really matter," she humbly encouraged. "Things you said you wanted to say first."

.

It was no surprise to him that he didn't do a good job at hiding the colour finding his face with her subtle inspiration. It was one thing to know in your heart that you wanted to say something so sincere and detrimental to someone you'd come to cherish, but to be put so blatantly on the spot made the whole encounter seem hollow.

.

He panted out a couple hard breaths beneath the light trails of blood meeting the waistline of his pants. He couldn't be bothered with his pain in that moment or the fact that his arms were only half responsive. Growing rather confident that they were finally on the same page, he felt like he was finally willing to advance on her in ways that he hadn't dared to before.

.

His hands were already on her hips since she'd parted them from her face so it hadn't taken much effort for him to roll clammy palms back over the curve of her firm backside. His parted lips inhaled her startled gasp as he drew her off her toes and settled her firmly between his chest and the walls around them. It put far too much strain on aching shoulders to accommodate the difference in their heights.

.

Like he anticipated, it didn't take long for her to fill in the blanks because he could feel the pressure of her thighs closing in around him to take the burden off his forearms. If his heart didn't stop racing, he surely would bleed out all he had before he had wrapped his head around how far they'd managed to come since taking up arms together against Zade, and Neirah's wretched past. Even on an instinctual level, they had always been a team. She had no way of knowing how incredibly euphoric her clenching was, or how it raised his body's temperature. She was strictly doing it to aid in her elevation. Sometimes, they didn't need words to understand each other. They just got in the way.

.

He was a healthy mix of wanting to protect her and being proud that he could walk away knowing that she would make it back to his side when the battle was over. The uncertainty of his feelings thrashing about within him added with the scare of death's cold embrace earlier that day had brought him to a conclusion; whatever was happening between them, he wanted to cherish it, cherish her…

.

He had kissed her before on partially conscious whims, but the woman before him wasn't the same one he'd tasted. She was radiating a kind of vulnerability before him that he'd never quite experienced, a willingness to surrender to what she knew he had more experience with. It was unlike her. That willingness didn't mean that her lips didn't tremble when he traced them with his fingers, his brow pressed to hers and laboured breaths commingling in their airways with their nearness.

.

His mouth was dry from the ruggedness of heavy breaths, but every time his tongue moved to dampen parched fibres, undisguisable shivers were rattling his spine and forcing him to trap pained hisses behind clenched teeth. "You're one to talk," he ended up uttering. Neirah's gaze was forced quizzical with his statement before she realised he was adding to a conversation that seemed to happen a lifetime ago. "If you don't need labels, then I shouldn't have to say anything."

.

His whisper was so close to her lips that she wanted to thrash out irrationally violent. She was feeling things that she wasn't used to feeling, things that had only stirred for weak moments on rare occasions that she was offered the more genuine side of the Empress' right-hand man.

.

Luckily for her and the fingers that crawled back behind his head to fondle the roots of his hair, she had been well-educated in the ways of such interactions by nosey ex-guildmates that she still held to heart as her dearest friends. The part of her that ached to return to the guild she left in pursuit of Marionette cultists had her desperate to cling to the heart of the guild itself as he stood beneath her arms; Ryverika's Prince of Fairy Tail and the reason that she had found the life she had. Tears welled in her eyes with the surreal embrace that saw her pressed tightly against him. Her smile was weak, but she was sure that he could feel it curl against his lips as she offered him a weak, but affectionate peck on the corner of his mouth. "Then don't," she mewled urgently. She was ready to experiment with the powerful sensations curling her toes, to feed off his experience.

.

He watched a whirlwind of recollections flash behind his eyes where he knew she once smiled back at him. From the first time that she'd taken him by surprise at sundown in the East Forest of Magnolia, to the sun currently at their backs, and everything in between. The picture reel snapped free of his comprehension the moment their lips met upon his final ragged inhale.

.

His chest may have burned corrosively with the pressure of him forcing it on her own, but he couldn't move away, couldn't be any gentler. He needed her too badly to concern himself over the pressure threatening to suffocate him or the gentle, shuddering breaths trembling beneath the crush of his lips. Each breath was deep as he drew it in, and if his aching lungs would have allowed it without causing a hoarse cough to break their warm embrace, he would have breathed deeper still.

.

He had never admitted it to anyone before, and maybe it had taken a while for him to admit it to himself, but ever since the day they met, her scent was in veins. She smelled like springtime, crisp early spring mornings, just before the thaw had seen all the snow from the ground. Even in the moment her blissful sigh saw her lips parted with an invitation for him to devour, the stench of bloodied and battle weathered garments on their bruised bodies, she still smelled like sakura.

.

He'd gladly admit that he was a junkie for the high he got off her presence. Even if he resented the call of a beast forced to be a part of him, he couldn't deny that the sensitivity it offered her presence was something he was desperate to indulge in. It vexed him. How could such a strongly defiant warrior ensnare him with the sweet and delicate presence of a tiny flower?

.

With the heat of their encounter boiling already feverish blood and the golden sun on their back, he couldn't stand to be beneath the weight of his shirt any longer. It was suffocating. With the stable strength of her commanding thighs draped over his hips, he released her body to sink anxious fingertips into either side of his open-faced top. His exhale threatened to blend with a hungry growl as she remained stable against him. All he wanted to do was sink his fingertips into those thick, luscious thighs as they flexed powerfully around him. He refused to interrupt their kiss as he rid himself of the weight, tense shoulders aching as he pressed them together and let the prison fall with his escape.

.

The breath of relief had him indulging in her poison all over again and his fingertips immediately flexed and raked over the muscles clamping around him to draw him instinctually tighter to her curvaceous body. He remembered the first spring after they met, and how it had tortured him. He'd look over his shoulder like an escaped felon every three steps, hoping that the fragrant presence raining down around him was hers.

.

But it never fucking was.

.

He reached out and laid his fingers on her face, trembling with restraint. He wanted to touch every inch of her in an instant, hold her with all the strength he possessed. He was afraid that as soon as he let go, like every time before, the memory of her skin against his would fade and they would return to the way they lingered; parched and thirsty for more than they allowed each other to drink. He wanted to explore her, squeeze her with the frantic intensity weakening his self-restraint, but every time her delicate whimpers met his tongue he was spiralling back down into reality with a deafening crash.

.

She may have been a powerful wizard and his current guild's brave and dedicated master, but in his arms, if just for a moment, he held the flower; the delicate and beautiful woman who had somehow weaved herself into his very being over the course of the agonizingly long years it took them to figure out that their paths were meant to meet.

.

Just like this.

.

For the weightlessness he'd felt with his battle-weary figure wrapped up in her arms, they may as well have been somewhere floating along a springtime breeze far from the clawing shadows of the war they found themselves fighting.

.

Shadows.

.

Fairy Tail's Shadow.

.

He'd always scorned the way her brother, no matter how affectionately, referred to her as such. Then, to make matters worse, Ryverika was no better. Shadows, darkness, none of it described the vibrant woman glowing with affection beneath him in that moment. He was growing more anxious to see his senses overwhelmed by her presence and due to his vacant state, he didn't even care that he was acting like a primal beast in seeking it. He weaved his fingertips through satiny auburn waves and drew her deep into his kiss.

.

There was nothing dark about her.

.

She was radiant; brave, confident, and powerful while remaining devoted, beautiful, and fragile.

.

She was everything…

.

To him.

.

It hurt when he pried himself away from her for a moment, telling himself that it was out of courtesy to the poor breathless girl to allow her to steal her breath back for the sake of her collapsing lungs. He waited for panting gasps to subside and quiet to steal the room once more, and moments after she'd caught her breath, she looked back at him and smiled.

.

Her devotion had always made his heart ache. He had never felt like her affection and admiration for him was justifiably deserved. Even if they fought, she was always passionate towards him, always concealing that she knew all along that he'd held her heart. Even when he'd clenched it, squeezed it dry of life, it still beat for their quiet moments like the one currently enrapturing him.

.

At first, he was afraid of it. He'd run away from the pressure of holding such a delicate world with blood-stained hands. A guilty conscience delayed his sense of inner peace for another agonisingly long year.

.

But as she looked back at him with a playful little gleam in her glassy sapphire gaze, bearing the insignia of the force she led against elite cultists that threatened to darken the skies of the world they lived in, he wasn't afraid anymore. Not when something so tender could be so brave in the arms of someone so damaged.

.

They were a team. She had saved him just as many times as he saved her and neither of them asked for it. They were simply there, whenever the other needed. Their paths never saw them parted.

.

"I love you." It didn't even sound like his words when he spoke them so suddenly, too enthralled with the moment and the look in her eyes to adjust the hoarse catch in his throat. He shook his head, such an enormous weight rising from his chest that he was afraid that was all that had remained tethering him to the ground. She tried to deny the curl of her lips by capturing the corner of her lower one between her teeth, but she had failed to conceal her smile. She reached out and laid a finger against his lips with her acceptance of his admittance, a blissful grin illuminating her silent features.

.

He rolled one hot palm up her outer thigh over her Infinity Dragon guild mark and laid his other hand against her jaw. He almost laughed with the triumph of finally sharing a moment with her that he'd played through his tired mind many a sleepless night. "Fuck, why does that sound so good to say?" He whispered through the gentlest amusement.

.

It was a feeling he wanted to hold onto for as long as he could, brows and noses connected while matching smiles flirted with delicate snorts of awkward enjoyment. Neirah closed her eyes and gave her head a gentle shake, dusting her nose against his from one side to the other. "Then say it again."

.

He couldn't comprehend how such a delicate whisper could be filled with so much authority, so much passion. It had a throaty groan rattling his chest. "Yes ma'am," he teased through the rather lusting growl. His hunger saw ravenous little kisses over the neck and collar of his squirmy guild master. He had no idea at the time that those words were going to become such a weighty part of his existence from that day on.

.

Neirah tipped her head back against the wall in an unrestrained fit of giddy laughter. "Tickling!" She informed as her crossed sets of toes curled at his tailbone with her arousal.

.

When he had finally made his way to her ear, he laid his palm against her outstretched throat and felt her pulse race beneath it as he repeated the sentiment as sincerely as he knew how. "I love you… Neirah."

.

Sometimes, he just needed to hear her take a breath to know that his wasn't wasted. But to feel it, racing beneath her breathless wheeze, was overwhelming. For a moment, the pulsing of her life beneath his fingers filled him with purpose. In that moment, she was safe in his arms.

.

She was alive. He… was alive.

.

They were together.

.

But reality was harsh and cruel in the way it kept dragging him back down when all he wanted to do was dance with his tiny sakura. He recoiled in agony burying his face in her shoulder with a bitter hiss as his thundering heart got the crippling best of him. "Fuck," he spat out in hostile resentment.

.

Neirah flinched with his low curse and slowly adjusted so that she could communicate more clearly with him. "Laxus? Are you ok?"

.

'Sure, now she asks.' He forced out an annoyed sigh as he backed away from her and peeled his bloody palm from where it had been clenching his own chest moments before. "Well," he stated gruffly. "I remember how crazy you are for sunsets so I figured I'd clip those couple layers and give you a clear view."

.

Neirah visibly recoiled and tried to struggle out of his grip. "Uch, you're so morbid."

.

He smiled humbly and reached out to hold her face with his opposing fingers. "Relax, would you?" He murmured softly, placing another gentle kiss on her lips. "It's just flesh. It'll heal."

.

Neirah gently shook her head, obviously worried about the well being of a man that she held close to her heart. "You shouldn't joke about these things," she begged softly as she allowed him to steady her on her own two feet again. "Does your life mean nothing to you?"

.

He slipped in and out of vacantly present states as he leant down and gently kissed the top of her head. "Not if you're not in it," he whispered into her teased auburn locks.

.

As worried as she was, she couldn't help but be the slightest bit charmed with the brute's fumbling approach to romance. She smiled back at him and helped him take a seat back on the bedside. "You love-struck goon," she teased. She laid the back of her hand beneath his bangs against perspiring skin. "Alright, Prince. I need you cooperate while I play doctor."

.

He vacantly shook his head, his eyes barely remaining open to watch her shift around the room. "Nope, that's not going to help the fever thing." She comprehended that maybe he was trying to articulate his amusement for her comparison, but it wasn't very well. "Nope," he repeated as if assuring himself.

.

Neirah smiled tenderly and propped some pillows up behind him as he rolled his shoulders and settled obediently supported against the headboard of the bed. "Well then, I'll start with the cleanup and we'll work on your fever later," she teased moments from leaving to get some water and a cloth to soak in it.

.

Before she could stand, he was capturing her wrist and dragging her onto his chest like it didn't hurt or wind him with the strain of his effort. She melted tenderly into his touch as he smoothed her hair back behind her ear with bloodied fingertips and drew her lips back to his. Every breath he drew in against their kiss seemed to offer him a little more time in the conscious world like she was a form of life support for him in his lethally wounded state.

.

Upon parting, he kept her near as soft words murmured their desperate plea against her lips. "Don't let me forget that we got this far…"

.

Her heart sank to think that he'd been so eager to bring them closer that he would fear to lose the moment in his exhausted and injured state. With a tender smile, she raised her fingers to the tribal ink on his chest and encouraged him to sit back on the bed. "I won't," she promised him breathlessly. She gave him a slow, parting peck before brushing fingers lightly back through his hair.

.

He couldn't open his eyes any longer, he was too far between worlds. Even so, he managed to find the hand that pet him and claim it with his own. Upon doing so, his trembling fingers raised hers to his lips for a lax kiss.

.

He was too separated from reality to realise that his actions forced her to give her head a strong shake. Laxus – Laxus Dreyar. That was the man sitting before her in a vulnerable mess. It wasn't right. It was hard to believe it was real.

.

He tucked her hand up against his shoulder and rested his face against it. Moments later, he was gone.

.

"Big brute," she crooned tenderly. She waited a long, bewildered moment to reclaim her hand and set it to purpose. "You just needed someone to care." Her stomach churned weakly with the sight of the wound completely absent Arihana's prior treatment. As grateful as she was, like the others, she couldn't figure out how he had survived what he had.

.

"You're something else," she mused externally. She drew the top of her fist to her mouth and took a deep breath to steady and set herself to the task. She hated the stench of blood that filled the room and reminded her of the war raging on in the shadows of her past. "I guess all that muscle was good for something after all… Durable beast…"

.

She took one last trembling inhale in before moving on with her treatment. "I won't let you forget," she quietly promised. "Just make sure you live to remember, ok…?" She leant down and gently kissed his brow. "Stay with me, Sparky," she commanded in an affectionate whisper. "Stay with me."

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Quit acting like a fucking hero! You're not!" Laxus roared feverishly. "You're a selfish brat that's too damn proud to ask the rest of us for help!"_

 _._

 _"_ _I didn't ask you to come in the first place!" Neirah demanded, no holds barred on her assault. "I didn't want anyone to share the nightmare that is my life and I sure as heck won't let anyone die for it!"_

 _._

 _"_ _Did you ever stop to think that maybe the people around you here are the ones that want to be a part of that life?!" Laxus stilled, wishing he hadn't been so boisterous in his approach. He watched the fury fade from her expression and colour rise in her cheekbones. He panted heavy breaths and looked from side to side in hopes of coming up with an improvised version of his rant and fast. "I mean, Gajeel's your brother. You really think he cares what happens to him? He's here to fucking help."_

 _._

 _Sloppy. He knew she'd see right through it._

 _._

 _Her tone adjusted moderately in catching his fumble. "I value that there are people who would risk their own safety to try and bring an end to this war, but this is MY battle," Neirah assured him distantly._

 _._

 _"_ _If your old lizard couldn't end it, what the fuck makes you think that you can?"_

 _._

 _Those were words that he probably shouldn't have said, but as quickly as they flowed from venomous lips, he was helpless to retract them. He knew that Neirah missed Ryverika and that a part of her still blamed him for the dragon's demise. He didn't mean to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Tenrou Island was spared Acnologia's wrath without Ryverika's help. It wasn't his fault the dragon gave his life for him that day._

 _._

 _"_ _Neirah I-" Laxus recoiled mid-step when a malicious strike of violet lightning scarred the earth inches from where his first step tried to land. It was obvious that she didn't want to be followed._

 _._

 _He scoffed lightly, the tension of his ground jaw forcing his mouth to ache with restraint as he watched her raise her hood and start to walk away without another word. "What do I tell your idiot brother?" He shouted after her dainty figure._

 _._

 _"_ _Tell him that my_ _ **idiot**_ _second is in command until I return."_

 _._

 _Laxus flexed his fist at his side, contemplating storming after her, putting her over his shoulder and carting her back to their guild. Infinity Dragon's master was a loose cannon, one that only he was equipped to deal with. She was becoming more reckless than ever as her power grew. But he knew as well as anyone that even powerful hands could tremble when they were afraid._

 _._

* * *

.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Nice try, but she can look after her damn self!" Laxus roared, cutting tense fingers through the stagnant air as he threw his arm out to one side. "She's not a fucking damsel, she's a dragon! If you wanna play the head game card you'd better try a hell of a lot harder than that!"_

 _._

 _"_ _Is that so?" Zade no more than breathed._

 _._

 _Laxus didn't think that the fibres of his very existence could separate so vividly in front of his very eyes, that was, not until the moment that Zade kicked Neirah's unconscious figure out in front of him upon summoning it from where she had obviously fallen._

 _._

 _"_ _Then consider me a brother, dragon slayer."_

 _._

 _Broken, bloodied and left for dead, flesh torn from bones and chest neglecting to rise with the breath she vaguely tried to consume. The only thing that assured him it was her was the stench of her blood that proceeded to stain the earth beneath her motionless silhouette. It was unmistakably hers._

 _._

 _Laxus shook his head, heart heavy with denial as he held his breath to reject reality. "No," he wheezed in panic. He couldn't help but continue to deny that infinity had fallen. "There's no way."_

 _._

 _"_ _I'm not one to accept such accusations as your own," Zade hissed. "If you have a better reason to call me a liar, by all means, let us have it." His cold cerulean gaze iced over venomously. "But that girl is dead whether you believe me or not. I don't use emotions and empty claims like pawns in a larger game. I am not Marionette's Puppet Master, I am the Ghoul Knight."_

 _._

 _Laxus cut his furious gaze from Neirah's wounded body to the deranged man ready for assault before him. "If she isn't breathin' when I get there, you'll be just as dead as the bastard that tried this first," Laxus promised while seething his uncontainable wrath through ground fangs. "And I won't be quick about it either…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Karua's fate will never be my own."_

 _._

 _"_ _Fate has less to do with it than my fist!" Laxus thundered, the ground crumbling beneath his feet as his charge began. "I'm not going to lose that light again!"_

 _._

 _To think, that such a delicate hack for air was capable of silencing the storms in the sky that day and stilling the ruthless fist that commanded them._

 _._

 _But it was there, the tiniest, shuddering breath, and he heard it over the thundering of his heart. He redirected his attention and watched her struggle to reach out to him. "Laxus… illusion…" She forced her words through grit teeth, trying to make out his shadow with an eye and a half worth of vision. Her chest heaved a thick mouthful of blood before it was passing her lips into the dusty ground beneath her. Upon making slow eye contact with him, she slowly shook her head. "An illusion," she whispered a little more clearly._

 _._

 _Laxus stilled and caught his breath before blinking the haze in his crackling vision clear with her reveal. Neirah was in front of him, but so was an illusion displaying her condition as far more severe than it was. 'Bastard,' Laxus thought furiously. 'He summoned Neirah for her scent and then made her appear dea- Doesn't play head games my ass…' She was still incapacitated, but she was most certainly alive._

 _._

 _Against his better judgement, he stepped to her side, lowering a guard against an enemy who didn't like to offer strategy a chance. "Get up," he ordered whilst keeping a weathered eye on the devastated battlefield. "I don't know if I can do this without you."_

 _._

 _"_ _You can't," she breathed with a heart-wrenching look of defiance in her eyes._

 _._

 _Laxus turned to check on Zade one more time to make sure he was still. All the man did in response was drew his sword and adjusted his unsympathetic gaze. Surprised, Laxus switched attention to the frail woman at his feet who reached out and wrapped cool fingers around his ankle._

 _._

 _With a delicately small smile for reassurance, Neirah gave the last of her conscious strength to him in a brilliant burst of light._

 _._

 _"_ _You won't be without me…"_

 _._

 _Zade's brow furrowed over a narrow gaze as he watched the two disappear behind the light of infinity. "She wouldn't." Slightly alarmed, the man watched the dust settle around the two, waiting for Laxus to drop alongside her. "No mortal would be capable of absorbing the divine's strength." He assured himself confidently, watching a vacant Laxus linger on the sight of a motionless Neirah. "She'll kill him herself."_

 _._

 _For a dangerously long moment, the battlefield was silent with Neirah's fleeting consciousness. Laxus remained unresponsive as the silence dragged on, breath withheld, sight unseeing. The only sign of life retained was the subtle twinge of previously seized fingertips at his thigh._

 _._

 _Zade had grown impatient with watching the fingers of his only upright opponent twitch like he was trying desperately to remain conscious. He was the first to admit that it was a marvel that Laxus had managed to remain on his own two feet since the transfer of Neirah's power, but he was certain it wouldn't be for long._

 _._

 _Laxus didn't even raise a finger as Zade strode up to him and thrust the cold steel of his blade through the man's chest with precise ease. There was a satisfied look of relaxation on the knight's face when he intercepted the empty gaze that had yet to rise from Neirah's motionless figure. "How anticlimactic," Zade crooned. He gave his sword a little twist to reinforce his certain victory. "Just the way I like it."_

 _._

 _In the moment Zade moved to retrieve his blade with his retreating step, he was interrupted by a denying force. With a furrowed brow, he gave his sword another tug. After a moment, he decided maybe he should see what was stopping it from releasing from the flesh of his victim._

 _._

 _The colour flushed out of the lean man's face as he turned to see that Laxus had curled his hand around the blade inside his chest. "Impossible…" Zade rattled out uncertainly. His gaze shot only momentarily to the sight of Laxus' bloody hand clenching the blade without showing signs of any recoil to the injury. He quickly released his sword to scurry away from the beast's illuminated glower as it slowly rose to where he stood. "He should be-" He watched in horror as Laxus tore the blade from his chest, and in a negligent manner that likely increased the damage originally done by Zade's clean cut. The man remained unfazed._

 _._

 _Neirah wasn't the only one who marvelled at Laxus' speed when he was motivated to be swift. Zade would never forget the feeling of the defensive giant's grip around his throat as he watched his life flash before his eyes._

 _._

 _Zade's gaze trembled as he watched the battlefield light up with the wrath of gods before him. "It shouldn't be… he can't-"_

 _._

 _"_ _No…" Neirah murmured weakly. She continued to fade out of consciousness on the faith that their teamwork would prevail even if she wasn't well enough to fight by his side. She would be there when the sun had come up, but she hoped, when she finally closed her eyes, that Zade wouldn't be. "But_ _ **we**_ _can…"_

.

* * *

.

Flowers.

.

Everywhere.

.

He hated that a man of his reputation was so easily moved by their scent, but at the same time, maybe other men of his stature simply weren't equipped to appreciate the intricacies of the fragrance.

.

* * *

.

 _The look on his face spelt out more than she was sure he wanted to admit to her with his simple words. "I didn't ask to be this way…"_

 _._

 _Neirah lowered her gaze, intimidated by the vulnerability in his sudden shift of demeanour. "None of us did," she whispered tenderly. She raised her right hand over the ebony Fairy Tail crest on her left breast and gently rubbed the back of her hand with the opposing. "But I guess when it's all you have left, you learn to embrace it."_

 _._

 _Laxus turned away with a disgruntled snort. "Not a chance in hell," he whispered bleakly. "If Natsu wants to crawl through the dirt like a fucking dog, that's his own damn problem. I'm not…" He cut his gaze from hers with a heavy heart. "I'm not an animal…"_

 _._

 _There was a look of hurt on Neirah's gentle features like his comment had somehow managed to offend her indirectly. She didn't look away from him no matter how badly he tried to keep their eyes from meeting. "Not all of us are so primal…"_

.

* * *

.

But he was.

.

Every time he found himself lost or on death's door, her voice was in the beat of his heart like a siren, guiding him tenderly back into the cruel land of the living to spend another round of torture upon the lands they lived.

.

And the flowers.

.

The _fucking_ … flowers…

.

He'd suffer a fate a thousand times worse than the one called life just to be near her, but he couldn't begin to fathom why. They fought like the dragons claimed to be in their blood. She had resented him, hated him, but he still couldn't get enough.

.

He could deny what he was all he wanted to, but the truth was that the force driving him to his knees in her presence was entirely instinctual. He needed her; to feel her, taste her, hold her. Death would have been easier than the miracle they tried to work, but he wasn't ready to die. Not when spring was in full bloom on the bed beside him.

.

She was there. He could feel it. Her warm comforting presence was calling to him in gentle song. And like a dog, he followed it; followed her light and warmth right back to the start.

.

Neirah sighed with relief as he opened his eyes, no matter how narrowly, beneath his knotted brow. She raised the cool cloth from his face with a tender smile. "Well look who just kicked their fever's butt," she crooned. She set her cloth down against the side table between the inn's beds. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Prince."

.

He strained to look at her curiously before slowly rising to her aid with a pained wince. Once she'd helped steady him, he moved his palm over the strain in his neck to chase out the kinks. "Neirah?"

.

"Disappointed?" She teased, glad that she had dimmed the lighting in the room since he'd been unconscious.

.

He wanted to quip back and make a war out of their playful banter, but he couldn't seem to wrap his head around wit at the moment.

.

"How are you feeling?" Neirah interrupted in kind concern. "You weren't out for very long, but you were making an awful fuss in your sleep."

.

He gently shook his head, wondering if his brain had managed to detach from the walls of his skull with the ache of the effort. "Fucked up dreams," he grunted.

.

Neirah curled her lips into a sad smile. "I was afraid of that," she mewled tenderly. "I'm sorry, I should've woken you."

.

He shook his head again, feeling a lot less disturbed for the effort. "It's fine." He flinched when Neirah outwardly laughed at him and he wasn't quite sure what he'd done that was so humorous.

.

"It's good to have you back, Sparky," she teased. She patted his thigh before climbing from his bedside. "Hungry? I ate while you were asleep, I hope you don't mind."

.

He gently shook his head to deny her offer. "Back?" He suggested. "You mean conscious?" He looked down at his clean bandages before touching them and observing that his fingertips came away unsoiled. She responded to his sentiment with a gentle giggle.

.

"Back to acting like yourself," she admitted. "I was cleaning your wounds and Arihana had you on some seriously strong sedatives. I should have warned her that she was working with humans in the job description, not farm animals."

.

He cut his weighted gaze her way with his lack of amusement. "Hilarious."

.

"Much better," she whispered as she sat on a chair at the side of his bed. "You're meant to be a man of few words."

.

"You really know how to kick a guy when he's down, don't you?" He chided, taking a look around the room darkening with dusk's last breath. "And we are?"

.

Neirah's expression dimmed sadly and it became harder for her to retain her smile. "We came to town for some supplies just before your wound reopened. I was afraid you might not remember…" She didn't want to admit her disappointment, but she couldn't help but feel like it was for the best. Every time she and Laxus had shared a tender moment, something always overshadowed it and it was lost to the sands of time. Just like the sundown they met in the East Forest, the night they overlooked the balcony towards Crocus' devastated remains or the night in the mountains where he told her for the first time that he refused to treat his light like a shadow.

.

As disappointed as she was, she wasn't surprised. In dressing his wounds, she learned more about the miracle that was his will to live. Not only was the wound substantial in size, but it was growing. It refused to accept treatment, even from the infinite healing capabilities Neirah possessed.

.

Arihana had numbed his senses to the pain, but she neglected to mention the severity of the situation. It was near to the surface, slowly crawling its way into his chest through the wound like it had been set there by the hilt of Zade's blade.

.

He had been poisoned.

.

The frustrating reality of his wounds was that even the clarifying traits of her own sky magic couldn't purify his body. She had seen some amazing things done with her own skills through Kairyn's hands while he was alive, but it frustrated her to think that she wasn't strong enough to help Laxus in the same way. A sickening worry kept her from telling him the unfortunate truth because, deep down, she sensed that something beyond their control was ailing him. In a few hours, he would need his wounds redressed again, of that she was certain. She only hoped that he didn't conclude to himself that his wound was growing rather than trying to heal because if his body continued to deteriorate at the rate it was, he wouldn't be physically capable of lasting much longer.

.

Their war with Reku and the rest of Ghoul Knight would have to wait. All that mattered to her was finding a way to extract the poison from his body and potentially save his life.

.

"What did you dream about?"

.

Laxus recoiled as her gentle inquiry interrupted his stampeding thoughts. "I- what?" He rattled out disorderly. "That's kind of a weird question to ask someone."

.

"I'm just curious," she admitted softly. "You stir a lot in your sleep."

.

"Creepy," he rumbled shortly.

.

"I was tending your wounds, remember?" She teased. "Don't make this weird."

.

He was about to proceed with a defiant rebuttal, but a part of him found comfort in divulging; if only a little bit. "I… Well they're mainly memories, I guess." He threw his legs over the side of the bed and tried to remember what it felt like to operate them. "Looks like my demons want to be my friends as soon as I close my eyes. Tsk, nothing new…"

.

"The past is nothing but shadows that can't be changed," she assured him kindly in a small voice. "You shouldn't treat them like weights to bear." She didn't know whether he was absorbing her advice or ignoring her, but either way, she let it be. "I've never met anyone who stays so tense while they sleep," she informed him casually. "I tried to lift your arm and-" She recalled the way he had immediately trapped her beneath it for the better part of an awkward twenty minutes. "It's like even when you sleep you're on high alert."

.

She hated how he looked up at her like the guilt he carried somehow involved her. She hated that there might be a chance that he could ever feel like he'd done her wrong. She looked back at him hopefully, catching her tired sigh behind her encouraging smile. "Do you not have anything you can think about to bring you peace?" He remained unresponsive. "What about Freed and the others back at Fairy Tail?" Silence. She sighed sadly with her folly. It was actually quite obvious that the thought of his friends wouldn't bring him peace, not when he carried so much guilt for leaving them behind. Even if it was to save them the struggles that Infinity Dragon currently faced, it didn't make the betrayal any easier. "I'm sorry," she confessed sadly. He was built to defend. For as long as he was the strongest, he would always carry the weight of his loved one's safety on his shoulders. "I know it's none of my business."

.

He didn't let on, but the silence he appeared to brood in was his active recollection of the events to transpire between them before he'd lost consciousness. The act made his entire disposition drown in sorrow when he realised that she hadn't done as he instructed.

.

She'd let him forget.

.

Again.

.

He didn't know what he had expected, for her to throw her arms around him and smother him with affection upon his awakening? He didn't understand how he could have still been willing to admit that _she_ brought him peace when she was also the one who broke his heart every chance he'd exposed it to her touch. This fire that was their relationship; beautiful and spontaneous in combustion, but everytime he reached in to hold her, he got burned.

.

He loved it.

.

Just lingering silently in her presence. He really was a dog, sitting by her window wagging his tail every time she walked by on the other side of the glass. He may have relied on scraps to feed himself, but the hope of just imagining what his life could be like as hers was enough to make a stray beg for it.

.

The worst part was that he _wanted_ to beg her to love him, ask her why she couldn't, but then the demons inside him would mock him with laughter. He knew why she couldn't love him. But that didn't mean he wanted to accept it.

.

He wanted to cling to the moments of tenderness that only she had taken the time to show him. The time, the words she'd saved just for him; to inspire, to console. She didn't mind breaking the awkward silences or the barriers he tried to put up around his heart.

.

And he appreciated that.

.

He was intoxicated by her habit, and the only way to free himself of the addiction was to turn away from it… something he wasn't sure he was ready to do or capable of doing. "I think…"

.

The room grew gravely still and silent as his next breath was interrupted by the gentle presence of her lips against his. He stared lethargically, even sadly, back at her from behind the contact, and even as he watched her trembling chest pump out her unsteady breaths, he couldn't hear a sound.

.

It was the first time she had ever initiated a kiss between them, aside from the innocent peck his cheek had received when they had met in the forest in X791. She was still inexperienced, still innocent. All the poison he wanted to keep pumping through his veins.

.

She couldn't take it anymore, the heartache displayed in his tired features. She had grown to know the weight of his heart and could see the suffering in his eyes.

.

The loneliness. It reminded her of the boy she met in the market over a decade before.

.

She promised herself that she would be the reason he was never lonely again, but that didn't stop her heartbeat from deafening her with its rhythmic rap against her aching chest. She worried it was too soon, that the remedy Arihana had prescribed him that morning might have loosened his tongue.

.

But she couldn't wait any longer.

.

'I'm sorry,' she mused weakly. Her trembling fingers were still unsure of their actions, but she managed to raise them to his face to trace the lean strand of scarring beneath his right eye. She knew if she had actually apologised, he'd just scold her for always being so apologetic to the 'likes of him'. 'But I can't bear to lose your smile…'


	3. Experiencing You

_**Experiencing You**_

* * *

.

.

She looked so peaceful lingering the way she was; he knew because he continued to watch her for the duration of her lips touching his. She remained still, aside from the arm supporting her that had begun to tremble. He wasn't quite sure what she was trying to do, but moving forward, he didn't care. He watched as he lost a little more to her clumsy charm and embraced the warmth of the blood she spilt to see their twisted game advance.

.

Tell me you love me, now turn away.

.

Kiss me. Kill me.

.

It hurt so good…

.

His weighted gaze couldn't linger on her gently colouring features any longer so he let heavy eyelids flutter shut. His beautiful little disaster. There she was, delicate as ever, and he ached to crush her petals between rough fingertips, cling to her presence with a helpless desperation. The restraint of his agony was tearing him apart and setting demon's loose in his head. He could _hear_ things, _see_ things that had yet to be.

.

Her sights, her sounds. Her screams.

.

Killing him slowly.

.

But how to tell her he wanted her, needed her even. He needed more than a meek taste. He needed a full indulgence. Even if he could muster the courage, surrender decency long enough to express himself clearly, he didn't know how he would tell such an innocent creature the things that were on his mind, in his heart. He could see her slapping him and turning him away, what he couldn't understand was why that seemed so appealing to him in his tired mind.

.

The warmth of her breath that seemed to linger a lifetime shot daggers through his throat in the moment she retracted her affections, causing hoarse mutterings to leak from his lips like poison from a snake's fangs. "Why do you hate me?"

.

He could hear it, the breathless wheeze she caught with her surprise; like she hadn't expected such an inquiry to find a voice among them. He slowly reopened tired eyes and watched her clamour hesitantly on the chair before him like she didn't know what to say.

.

He could see the flicker of emotions dance in her expressive blue eyes. Hot, cold, like she wanted to slap him; like she wanted to cry. She was sin in white lace, an angel that had no idea that she was slowly butchering the demon she taunted. Maybe she did know and just didn't care. It made him want her more.

.

Neirah shook her head, and again, unsure of what on earth he wanted her to say. At first, she tried to find a hidden meaning in his unusual question, but in his current state, she started to believe that he was speaking plainly. Then, there was the rage. 'How could he ever think that I hate him? After all that we've been through.'

.

"Laxus, how could you-?"

.

"Do you know? What it feels like to love you?" He interrupted roughly. His stare was empty, detached, refusing to look away from the journey in her eyes. His head fell subtly to one side beneath the furrow of his brow as he studied every twist in her expression. "To have you this close, only to have you take off again."

.

Ice. The only way he could watch an entire ocean freeze over in an instant was in the venomous flicker of fury in her gaze. He remained disconnected. "Don't you dare talk to me like I'm the reason you had to wait for us to make it this far," she hissed in a ragged whisper. "Two years ago-!"

.

"It was a gag," he demanded sternly in an exasperated tone. For someone who treated the past like a shadow, she certainly liked to use it against him when it would convenience her. "What'd you think, just because I helped you kick your brother's ass it'd be forever?" Tropical storms had hit in paradise as seas glossed with the presence of frustrated tears. "You offered a bribe you knew a man could bite and you didn't even know what it was. What'd you think would happen that night? A night for us?"

.

"It doesn't matter, it's in the past now." She tried to derail him but he wasn't done simply because the subject was no longer a convenience for her.

.

"Scars don't stay in the past," he growled. "And you left one on me. You paid too much attention to your pals. Thinkin' that the only way to get my attention was to use a man that's been dead for a long time against the one who's trying to start again." He hated how she refused to look directly at him like he was in any way a threat to her in his greatest moment of weakness. "You thought I was the asshole for turning you down that night, but you're not the only one that hurt."

.

So much for trying to be the better man.

.

Neirah shook her head and turned away entirely. "You used to tease me about it all the time, to get a rouse out of my brother. I was just a body. _Forgive me_ for thinking that was what you wanted." Sarcasm seemed to be her best defence against her tears that moment. She tried to muffle her startled whimper of alarm, realising that despite them being alone, other patrons of the inn could be as close to their backs as the wall. His hand was hot as it gripped her wrist to jerk her attentively into his presence and she worried that his fever had returned.

.

"When were you gonna to stop and ask me when you stopped being a body? Or is that seriously what I make you feel?" He had truly meant to be encouraging, trying not to come off nearly as abrasive as his touch seemed to be. Unfortunately, romancing wasn't really a strength of his. "How many times did we have to come to terms before you started looking at me like a friend? _Or_ … am I still the jackass that's just tryin' to get laid?"

.

"Stop," she mewled meekly. She started to fumble with shaking fingers to try and pry his touch from her skin. It was burning her from the inside out.

.

"You seriously didn't think I had options? Trust me, if I wanted someone easy I wouldn't have fought with your scrawny ass for so long. When were you gonna look up and notice that the reason I was there for you wasn't just because I wanted to fuck you?" Growing frustrated with her diversions, he took a hold of her jaw and cranked it back around to face him. "Was it maybe when I left everything I'd ever known behind to chase you into the pits of hell?"

.

"I didn't ask you to come with me…"

.

"You didn't have to!" He hated how aggressive he became when his insides were in knots, adrenaline so thick in his veins that it numbed him to the physical pain of his, still aching, wounds. His lack of concise articulation frustrated him and grated on his nerves. He didn't know how to make her understand. "I came because the thought of you not making it back doesn't work for me. Because even if we argue over the stupidest shit just-" He scoffed and finally broke her gaze. He couldn't watch tears form in the corner of her eyes anymore, not over him.

.

He sighed exasperation and sat back on the mattress, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "I sat here, carved out my heart and offered it up on a platter. And I'm watching you try to hide it, try to let it go… _again_. I just… don't know what I'm doin' wrong." His throat worked dryly as he dropped his arm and raised his gaze back to hers. She was a quivering mess in front of him, shifting fretfully and every shade of red. He'd never seen her look so nervous.

.

It had returned, the need to crush her with affection, hold his little flower so tightly that it withered. He dropped his gaze before deeply inhaling confidence and allowing himself to reach out to her. "I hate how bad I need you," he whispered haggardly in confession. He tried his hardest to remain kind as he stroked the tears from her eyes. "You're a nightmare I can't wake up from, a permanent knife in my fucking back." He raised his second hand to her face and tipped her head forward until their brows could gently meet. He closed his eyes and inhaled a deep, unsteady breath filled with her essence. "But I need it… need you. No matter how bad it hurts. No matter how many times we come so close only for you to cut me off again," he whispered. "I fucking love it… I love _you_ …"

.

Even the smallest of smiles on his lips were hungry for her taste when he offered it so near. "Mira used to kick my ass over giving you a hard time," he admitted bleakly. Metaphorically speaking, of course. "Poor little cult kid, she doesn't understand. Stop bullying her." He rolled his forehead gently from side to side against hers. "No one ever stopped to ask me about my fucking feelings… or how bad it hurt when you bit back." He needed another breath, and his only form of resuscitation was too far away for him to inhale. For a moment, he drew her to his lips and tasted the heartache she filled with as he spoke. "And sometimes, when no one else was looking, I thought I felt it. That little bit of warmth from my light at the end of a tunnel. Someone cared… about me. I thought it was you. When no one else believed in me… you did. Guess I was the idiot for falling for the girl who gave a damn. The idiot for believing that you had any interest in a guy like me after all you'd been through." With the revival of his spirit, he calmed his nerves and reined his aggression in check before continuing. "I know it's rough, with your brother breathin' down my neck, but you never shut me out like he wanted you to. If nothing else, if you didn't want me there to tease you, you would've knocked me off yourself a long time ago."

.

"I wasn't always this strong…"

.

He almost choked on his amusement as a cynical snort emitted from inside his aching chest. "You're fucking kidding, right? After all this, you still have to twist that knife." He stifled another grim scoff. "I have been your _bitch_ since that day you called me sir. And this is all you've got to say about it?"

.

It felt… so… good... to have her hands on him; the embodiment of hope. He let his eyes drift shut, her brow still pressed against his as her fingers laid on either side of his face in a mirrored effect to how he had done the same. "I can't take it," he admitted vaguely. "I'm going crazy over this."

.

"Help me," she whispered helplessly through the tears rolling over her cheeks. She shook her head frantically against him. "Laxus, I don't know what you want."

.

"I want you to love me," he whispered docilely.

.

Neirah closed her eyes and let her tears fall, her heart was aching and her fingers touched so delicately to the sides of his face that she could barely feel the heat of his skin. "I-I do," she admitted sheepishly. "I have… for a while, at least… for all I know I-" She was so unsure of what came next, where they went from there. "Laxus, I don't know what you need, what _we_ need." She gently pulled away from his face so that she could look at him sincerely. She'd been born into an undercover cult, raised by a dragon, she was lost. "The reason it never gets further than this is because I don't know what comes next. I haven't had… a lot of experience with this kind of thing and my sources are all over the place. Everyone seems to react differently to this type of love and you're… not an easy man to read." She hated how gentle such a man could look when he stared back at her like a dog she'd just beat in the ribs, quivering in fear and agony with it's still wagging tail pressed between its legs.

.

"I want to be what you need," she whimpered softly. "I want… I always wanted to be there for you… to make you smile, but you can act so cold. I didn't want to suffocate you. It's been… I've been trying to figure this out on my own but I just can't do it anymore." Neirah whimpered and sniffed back her welling emotion, a dam of sentiment bursting from her heart out. "Laxus, I need help. I can't stand seeing you like this. It scares me." She rolled one thumb over the scar on his face with her quiet admittance. "You've always given me strength, so when I have to watch you tremble, I feel like I should be terrified." She climbed to her feet and sniffled back the well of tears her fluttering eyelids released as she stood between his thighs and clutched his head to her breast for comfort. "I don't know what to do," she whispered softly with her cheek laid on the top of his head. "I wish I had grown up with the rest of you, had learned what to expect when I was made to feel this way, but I didn't. I'm so lost…"

.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked down into fair blonde hair as he wrapped his arms around her thighs and clutched her close to his chest. "I know this isn't the first time you've felt this way so, please… help me…"

.

"Just- Hearing you say stuff like that… about me… I'm too high to take the lead," he admitted hungrily. His lazy confession slurred against the kisses finding the flush in her chest that the dipped joint of her neckline exposed. He closed his eyes with a deep inhale.

.

Flowers…

.

He had started out strongly before her body had found its way up against his again. "The way I feel, the way you feel against me… about me, damn it…" It felt like he hadn't swallowed for a long time with the way his throat scratched beneath his sudden salivation. He tightened his arms around her thighs, strong hands filling themselves with the soft flesh of her haunches. "I am," he muttered weakly. "I am a fucking animal…" He slid his nose around the parameters of the low neckline exposing her substantial breasts, caramel skin tight beneath his tongue as it struggled to bulge outside of the material's prison. "And I'm hungry..."

.

Chills stole Neirah's entirety as she straightened in his arms and tipped her head back, her shuddering breath forcing her weighty chest into his ravenous kisses. Her cheeks coloured with his lewd affections, but somehow, she didn't feel like acting out aggressively. Something about his affections felt almost natural. "I-I offered you supper when you woke." She shuddered at the sound of his entertained whine as it tickled her cleavage, her fingers reflexively tightening their hold on his hair.

.

"You are _so_ naïve… Fuck it's adorable…"

.

"Laxus? Are you ok?" She whispered gently. "You're starting to drone out again, is it your chest?"

.

"Not quite, Little Lightning." He groaned, retracting one of his hands from around her hips. He drew the collar of her shirt back just a little further to expose the tanned, vacant skin where her ebony Fairy Tail crest used to sit. His lips lingered on the memory, his second hand inching up her thigh over her new Infinity Dragon insignia. "You smell like springtime; did you know that?"

.

She was grateful for his arms and the way they supported her when she started to wobble with the weakening of her knees. "You're sure you're ok?"

.

"What? You've never had to deal with a turned on man before? Tch, lookin' like that and dancin' at that club of yours you'll have to forgive me for doubting that."

.

Neirah whimpered, wincing awkwardly beneath his exhilaration. "Laxus, I danced at a nightclub. I'm pretty sure they had a sign out front saying no panting dogs allowed."

.

"That specific, huh? Never struck you strange?"

.

"I'm just saying, please be careful. You're really hurt. You're-" Her startled gasp was gentle as he took her by the hand and laid her palm against his chest so that she could feel the steady thunder of the heartbeat beneath.

.

"I'll survive this and a hell of a lot more," he assured her tenderly. "Just so long as you don't go breakin' this…" He raised his face from her bosom so that their eyes could meet once again. Panting dog or not, there was something sincere in his eyes when he did. "I've got somebody waiting for me…"

.

Neirah watched affectionately as a dull shimmer found his gentle gaze. It certainly wasn't youth that she was seeing, but the genuine fondness she felt warmed her straight through. At the same time, her heart ached to offer him more than she had. She quickly spared the wound on the right side of his chest a glance. His bandages were holding stronger than he was, at the moment. A part of her wanted to deny him much in the way of action, but another part of her wanted to hand him the world.

.

She quietly smoothed her healing touch over his bandages, letting her spells leak through in hopes of easing his pain for a little longer. She didn't want them to lose their lead. If he hadn't been so distracted by her bust offered to him, he might've scolded her for wasting her strength. But he was. "Tonight is for you, Prince," she assured him tenderly. She swept his delicate tuft of bangs back only to have it fall right back against his brow. She needed him to be strong to face what she knew approached them. She didn't want him distracted by a love uncertain. "I'll be strong if you will."

.

He moulded into her touch as she raised his lips to hers and joined them in a smiling kiss just tender enough to ignite flames in his soul. "Who made you so perfect?" He whispered breathlessly against her lips.

.

A small, but sad smile curled Neirah's lips as she leant past his face and pressed her lips to his ear. She could feel the tension brewing in his body and if she didn't know any better, she could have sworn he stopped breathing entirely. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you," she whispered into his ear. Concluding her dark promise with a delicate kiss, she took a silent moment to gather her nerves.

.

He was deafened by the delicate creature's whisper, it was the only explanation as to why he couldn't hear his own haggard breaths as they were forced from his lungs. He was uncertain as he gripped her backside tight in tensed fingers and raised her in his lap. A part of him felt like he was liable to drop his delicate package with how weak his arms had become since his injury. "Is that a promise?" He groaned hoarsely.

.

Neirah looked back at him out of the corner of her eye, a sly little smile on her lips. "I'm already learning," she purred gently upon shifting her weight more stable in his lap. She curled one hand around the back of his neck, teasing the roots of his hair while she encouraged him to tip his head towards her. The pressure of her encouraging tug made him hiss, and she could feel him fighting the pressure like he enjoyed the subtle bite. Thick and dark lashes weighed heavily over her eyes as she lowered her lips to his ear again. "I may be naïve, but I've grown good at reading people… reading you."

.

She could feel it again, the shivers as they raced up his spine. He may have hated being reminded that a part of him was ruled by the primal beasts he was chosen to slay, but like the rest of them, one of his unique abilities could be used against him and turned into a great weakness. "My prince has sensitive ears."

.

He didn't know what part of her tease had caused the perspiration to start beading on his flesh; her lips against his ear, or the gentle words she whispered.

.

Her prince.

.

Hers.

.

He slithered his palm up her spine and into the roots of her hair, taking a tight hold of them to press her closer to the arousing sensation. It seemed to him, at first, to come off as a little less desperate than how he knew he truly felt; and she didn't disappoint.

.

His abdomen quivered with each shuddering breath he expelled as she offered his ear another gentle kiss, then another. Then, in a similar manner to the way he'd kissed her, on occasion, her soft little tongue found a place in the sensitive channels of his ear. The act made him choke down his need to articulate the agonisingly sweet sensation washing over him, his heavy inhales basking in the floral scent he absorbed from her skin and the long, kinky tresses cascading over her shoulders. If she had thought there was a chance of walking out of their room the next morning a virgin, she had lost all rights to that hope when she heaved her blissful sigh against his tender skin.

.

Neirah curled her fingers around his shoulder and kneaded her fingertips into the muscle beneath. It relieved her to notice that a little bit of the tension once present had seeped away. He was finally starting to unravel against her. "I didn't think it would be that easy," she confessed. "Who knew you were a cuddler." She wondered if he was going to let her move away from his ear to continue her exploration with how tightly his fingers clung to the roots of her hair. She finally managed to escape and smile down at him. "What are the chances I'll find some other weaknesses for you to indulge in during our time together?"

.

"Well, seeing as how I didn't know that was a weakness of mine 'til 'bout thirty seconds ago, I'd say the sky's pretty much the limit." He stared back at her for a long time before his hazy comprehension allowed him to reach out and taste her lips. A part of him was hot with humiliation over his vulnerability, but another part wanted to roll onto his back so that she could rub his belly. "Damn, I really am your bitch," he whispered vaguely against her lips. He repeatedly pushed her hair back over both ears in simultaneous stride. "And I wanna kiss you real bad…"

.

She responded to his claim with a delicate shake of her head between his fingers. "No, it's not like that. You're someone I love. I want you to trust me, not hide," she assured him confidently. She dipped down to place a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. "I want to give you everything you need to feed that hunger that you were talking about earlier."

.

A pitiful little grin found his lips with her sentiment. "You _are_ a fast learner," he groaned proudly.

.

All humour faded from his expression when she backed away from him, unclasped the chain dangling over her collar, and slid her arms out of her top, allowing the material to part and fall around her waist. For a small woman, her breasts were heavy, soft and round. A burden during battle, but a blessing to a thirsting man. "I know what happens when a man… _really_ likes a woman." He was unexpectedly sated when she ground her hips against his, the panties beneath her skirt sliding over the erection marking his arousal beneath his pants. "Even if it was all a game… I remember what used to catch your eye." She smiled, subtle heat flushing her cheekbones alongside her chest and ear tips as she tried to remain confident. She slid both hands under his chin and raised his gaze from her bust to her eyes. "Now I'm ready to give them to you for whatever purpose you saw fit for them way back then."

.

"I understand why you don't have a real great selection of clothes now," he murmured vacantly upon passing. "It must be hell to find anythin' that fits."

.

Neirah hauled back and swatted the uninjured side of his chest, again. "Don't tease!" She demanded playfully. "I was trying to be poetic!"

.

"And failing." He groaned with her impact, but it wasn't the same kind of groan he would offer discomfort. "Trust me, Princess, if these are poetry the music's gonna be sweet in here tonight."

.

Neirah was moments before striking him feverishly once more, but that was when he sank tense fingers into her first breast. There came a hesitant hitch in her breathing as she was squeezed for the first time and there wasn't a lot of restraint in the touch that wrapped itself up in her flesh. She found her own fingers reaching around to slide into his hair all over again, their grip tight with demand as she encouraged his breath closer to the sensitive skin. She tipped her head back and let her next deep breath press her exposed breast into his languid kisses, his name sweet on her lips as she revelled in his tongue's pleasures.

.

From slightly below, he spared her feverish whines a glance before scooping the weight of one breast tightly in his palm. Sweet addiction. Her nipples were small, flushing brightly against her tanned skin when roused by his touch. He shifted his kisses lower on her breast as he rolled his thumb over one sensitive nub that had been hardened by his affections.

.

She'd never really felt the physical attraction to him that he'd yearned for, but he'd finally found a way to make her moan and it was just as beautiful as he'd ever dreamt it would be. Between tongue and tooth sucking back her tender flesh to tease, he'd found the sweetest of songs in the way she called to him.

.

He had managed to tie them up, his weakness for hers. He could silently admit later that he probably enjoyed the heavy petting just as much as she did, but at least this time he wasn't the one moaning like the wind outside their window.

.

Neirah sucked back another hard breath, jerking urgently on the roots of his hair to encourage his pressure as he lapped at her sensitive skin. She could feel the heat stealing her from tip to toe and all she wanted to do was claim more. She felt uneasy, a little dirty, but she trusted him. She relaxed her neck and panted her unsteady breaths against his ear; her first mistake, if she was desperate for him to slow down.

.

She was overwhelmed by his sudden switch in behaviour when the once contented lapping strokes of his tongue turned into hungry rumbles rattled deep within his chest as he tossed her off his lap and onto the bed beside him.

.

Literally tossed, like she was a pillow.

.

She sucked in her abdomen, inflating her chest as she watched him turn over one shoulder and brace himself above her. She had admitted before that the attraction she had to him wasn't of a physical nature, something her friends had scorned her for since they'd discovered her secret love affair. But in learning about him over the last couple months they'd been closer than ever, watching him suffer for the sake of defence, there was a sort of appeal to the variety of power he housed beneath the tight skin, and intimidation in the way he chose to use it.

.

Beneath him and at his mercy for the first time, she admitted that she felt a breath of excitement sweeping through her to tighten her body alertly; subliminally preparing for the dim, predatory look in his eyes. She drank back a hard breath as he leant over her abdomen and lowered his lips to the bright chain inching below her navel from the charm fixed there. He sucked the delicate strand behind his teeth and teased the area with tender kisses as his thumbs hooked in the material bundled around her waist to pull it down over her broad hips.

.

He followed the trail of her clothes until her abdomen ended and more delicate skin was displayed to his viewing. A part of him wanted to indulge like a rabid beast, but luckily a part of him remained somewhat human and grounded. The woman that was laid out before him wasn't just a body, she was slowly becoming his heart. He felt that, if nothing else, he had one night to prove it to her. Although desperation wanted to see him lose his head in a ravenous frenzy, he managed, if only narrowly, to rein in the lust in order to make their first night together one of the only memories he wouldn't loathe himself for later.

.

No regrets, just naked and seamless recollection.

.

With a trembling sigh, he released her clothes in a pile on the floor and slid his palm up one of her calves. Her boots came next, tight to her knee in smooth black leather. He considered leaving them on, for the guiltiest of indulgences. But as desperate as he was for it, a silent part of him nagged that he wasn't ready for the freak he knew was crawling around beneath her skin. She was capable of being too powerful, too intimidating, and coming off as pathetic as he had that night, he didn't want to add to it by begging for his tiny mistress to sink her fingers into the hole in his chest and twist. He almost choked on the harsh expel of his breathless wheeze. His imagination didn't see stresses relieved, that was for certain.

.

It was hard to facilitate such thoughts as she instinctively folded her legs modestly before him, but he didn't pry. Besides, he wasn't done exploring yet, the main event could wait a little longer. Instead, he placed a tender kiss on her raised inner thigh, delighting in the exhilarated breath she forced past her lips as a result. It was adorable that she felt the need to watch everything he did, every move he made. She was so curious… learning.

.

He hated how many cuts and bruises marred her satiny skin between bandages. They had no place on his precious little doll. He hated that the righteous warmonger brought it on herself because it wasn't how he wanted her to live. But he couldn't protect her, couldn't give her the world if she didn't want it. She was a hot-blooded warrior at times and needed the freedom she fought for. All he could do was believe in her, and be there when she needed a man to make her feel like a woman.

.

She was a masterpiece; a travel-sized bombshell with the finest assets a woman could offer. He could understand why she had blown up Sorcerer Weekly while he was in hibernation. Her olive skin was soft and vibrant as it hugged her womanly curves, and the firm weight of her enormous breasts could beckon forth even the chaste. She coloured in all the right places; the swell of her breasts, the tender skin just below her navel, her gently rounded cheekbones, oh, and the delicate tips of tiny jewelled ears. She sported a silky curtain of wild auburn tresses that tangled tantalizingly around an athletic frame with a healthy serving of luscious in her curvaceous hips.

.

And her eyes.

.

Beautiful glowing orbs of sapphire glistened back at him with hope and affection set in a kind heart-shaped face. They were just sharp enough to seduce and terrify when the moments called but filled with emotion she wasn't capable of displaying on her own. They were an ever-changing story that stole his heart the moment he saw tears fill her pages.

.

He tried to keep his gaze on her playful little grin as she scrambled back with his advance onto the double bed they tried to share horizontally, her effort charmingly clumsy as she pinched her tousled auburn locks beneath retreating palms. It was something he didn't intend on trying to get comfortable with. "That's cute," he admitted cynically. "Red and runnin'… like it's the first time I've seen you naked."

.

There was a swell of confidence in Neirah's expression as she let him catch up to her. She half sat up, one arm supporting her while the other reached out and drew his head into her presence. She breathed a light sigh of affection against his lips before tugging on his golden roots and offering him her breast again. "I've never been shy," she assured him whimsically. She whined in a state of bliss the moment his tongue extended to tease her swollen areola. Her sigh and moan commingled behind her lips as she tried to articulate the completion of her sentiment while he sat back on his haunches and wrapped his hand firmly around her second liberal mound of flesh. "If I'm running, it's because I'm afraid you're going to devour me," she teased while roughly stroking his hair as he sucked her tender nub. "I've never seen you act like this…"

.

He didn't seem overly defensive about her comment. Instead, he pinched her hardened flesh between his teeth to murmur his reply just under the needy whine she expelled in response. "Define devour," he encouraged. He gave her second areola a tweak between strong, thick fingers. "Maybe you _should_ run."

.

She had both arms back behind her to support the arch in her chest as he toyed with her flesh, reddening the sensitive skin with his affections. She fit perfectly beneath him, her delicate little figure folded intimately below. But even large hands had a hard time encasing her lavish breasts, their substantial mass tight like the rest of her body. There was only one thing that kept them from perfection, the delicate wings of an ebony fairy. A fact that homesick kisses remained passionately aware of.

.

He shifted with the thought, a discomforting constriction of his own wishing he could burn the material of his pants from his hips. He was startled to think that maybe there was a chance Neirah could hear his thoughts because, moments after they crossed his mind, her little toes were rolling over his erection beneath the heavy material.

.

"I know what to expect," she whispered gently in assurance. She looked back at him from beneath dark lashes, soft lips parted slightly as she passed a heavy breath. "There's no going back now… not with you."

.

He almost choked when he forced another hard swallow down his dried throat. His gasping breaths had to stop being chased away by spontaneous spurts of salivation or he was sure he'd gag himself. The touch of the gentle pads of her feet was just enough to make him itch to finish the job himself for the sake of avoiding the eager burn of anticipation. He cut his gaze to where she lingered draped against her elbows, immediately wishing he hadn't. It was the way she sucked on the corner of her pouty lower lip, a curious shimmer in her eyes. She had just enough confidence to pass off seduction, but just enough innocence for him to remind himself to handle with care.

.

Fire and ice, purity and sin; she was exhausting.

.

She was incredible.

.

And her encouragement was just gentle enough to be lethal. "Take them off…"

.

Her gently flushed features gave her away, and after a moment of his undivided attention, she was forced to lower her toes from between his thighs and look away. "W-what…?"

.

"You…"

.

She was slipping into doubt when she turned back his way. "What about me?"

.

Neirah jerked one palm up between her breasts and pressed it against her racing heart as he approached. It was the heavily sedated look in his eyes that made her quiver. It was hard for her to believe that he could ever be so complacent in her midst and it made her sceptical. She followed the retrieval of her hand as he slithered his fingers between hers and drew the folded ends to his lips.

.

"You're not even a little freaked?"

.

Crimson shades darkened with his deep murmur. "About what?" She hated how timid she sounded when he was advancing on her, like the shift of power stole the authority behind her words.

.

"About this… us…" He finished his statement on a deep inhale as he jerked her into his lap and laid his lips on her bare shoulder. "About big, clumsy hands on such a little body."

.

Her smile was blissful as she surrendered her gaze and arched away from his kisses to allow him to trail with them. "Gentle hands," she whispered. She laid her hands against his nape to fondle his roots. "I'm not afraid of you." She slipped out from beneath his affection to join their gazes. "Maybe I was once, but we've been chasing each other in circles for so long that I don't want to run anymore."

.

"Can we just… pretend I said something witty in agreement?"

.

She reached out with a gentle snicker and poked his nose with her index finger, her effort encouraging one exaggerated blink from him in response. "No more talking maybe? Would that make you feel better?"

.

He nodded vaguely. "I feel so much smarter when I'm not talking."

.

"Smartass…" Her coloured cheeks rose with her smile and she elevated the tips of her toes back to his pants. She hooked her right big toe under his waistline and gave an encouraging tug. She didn't hold any aversions to talking without words.

.

He looked down at her delicate little toes before peeking back up beneath his brow to her playful smirk. His sweet vixen may have never had a man, but her cool confidence was all the seduction he needed. He responded to her effort by folding his fingers around her toes and giving the arch of her foot a stern stroke with his thumb.

.

He had just turned away when his slightly bewildered gaze was darting back to where the innocent action had seen a desperate whine flip her head back with its passionate emittance. His gaze narrowed as he observed her and repeated the gesture on the decline.

.

Her whole body quivered, the colour of her skin bright as she moaned and curled both sets of toes. Fascinated, he repeated the offence a few more times, lowering his lips to her inner knee with a soft groan as her whimpers perked his ears.

.

It was the way he couldn't tell whether she wanted to moan, whimper or sigh, resulting in the fusion of them all. Every breath trembled as her fingers reached into the bedding along her sides and clung for stability as he fondled her toes. It certainly wasn't something he had thought would be so efficient, but it was. It almost had him smiling for her quirkiness.

.

His breathing hitched in his chest with the capturing of an erotic scent and his entire body steeled like a dog that had just been alerted to an unfamiliar predator approaching. He opened his eyes, but narrowly, staring up her body to where she writhed between pleasurable moans. He couldn't describe the scent to himself as it stole his attention, but he knew what it was; knew that he wanted to be closer.

.

He buckled her knee as he pressed the pads of her foot to the bed, letting her sedated sighs fill his ears and lure him in. His kisses trailed from her inner knee to her thigh, each one growing slower upon approach. Until he reached his destination, the sensitive tendons of her feet proved a valuable distraction.

.

He loved the jolt of her awareness jerking her toes between his fingers as his lips met the lowest point of her right hip. His distraction was no longer effective, it seemed, and the act made him smile to hear her catch her breath like she hadn't realised he'd been on the move.

.

She may have had beginners luck on her side when she found out that sliding her tongue in and around his ears forced his veins to steel, even he hadn't known of that particular vulnerability. But he wasn't going to leave an inch of her untouched that night, and if the fondling of her preciously petite toes raised her temperature, he'd suck every last one.

.

"Busted," he whispered gruffly against the 'V' in her thighs.

.

Neirah had spared him a glance when she realised what he'd done, but when his guilty gaze met hers, she was instantly forced to turn away. There was a hunger in his eyes that repeatedly intimidated her that night. Even if he wasn't overly unpredictable, she'd never seen him put forth such curious effort.

.

"Not gonna stop me?"

.

Neirah's throat was dry so she rolled her tongue and swallowed before gently shaking her diverted gaze 'no'. She closed her eyes as his lips touched her inner thigh one last time before she lost the heat of his presence entirely. Her heart beat like she was part of a thriller and she couldn't catch her breath. She wasn't afraid, but humiliation was certainly on her list of weighted reactions. Anyone could wrinkle their nose when they were given 'the talk', especially if it came from Cana and Juvia. But the truth was, she was always curious. If people did such things, there was obviously a reason.

.

She wanted to know what it was.

.

Laxus watched her tighten her fist in the bedding, white knuckles near piercing flesh as she shuddered nervously amidst the bedding. He was a tad conflicted. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know how; something that he was faced with more often than not. He contemplated interrupting his pursuit to return to her, but his own desperation drove him to steady his hand. Talking about it wasn't going to stop them from spinning in the circles she mentioned before. His touch might have.

.

He expelled a weighted sigh and slid his palm up her flexed calf. She had both feet pressed firmly into the mattress, her frightened demeanour ultimately forcing his touch tender even though he pulsed with need. He could be gentle.

.

For her, he could.

.

He would.

.

He buckled her trembling leg by the arch of her foot again, stern finger strokes weaving between her toes to chase blissful whimpers from her chest. With the release of her muscle upon his encouragement, he gently shifted her ankle until her knee was bent over his shoulder. He wouldn't be able to console her with his awkward words, so he tried a different approach.

.

He'd overwhelm her.

.

Now, for his poison. The nagging senses of a dragon slayer fueled by his uncanny infatuation with everything about her. Phantoms in his mind chanted their encouragement as he neared her skin again, one hand soothingly stroking her toes as his other smoothed up her outer thigh. He chased it, her scent; like he was searching out a bitch in heat.

.

He despised it.

.

He yearned for it.

.

He finally released his hold on her toes so that he could hone in on his purpose, preparing his virgin for the encouraged removal of his pants. Slipping his strained fingertips over the entirety of her leg, he found his palm weighted with her tight backside, the sheets of the bed pressed disorderly against his knuckles.

.

She was growing tight again, a hot and hesitant mess beneath him. She may have been comfortable enough in her own skin to be seen waltzing around naked on more than one occasion, but that flesh had never been felt, squeezed, probed.

.

Learned.

.

His breath had reached tightly pursed lips laid out before him and the rattled tremoring of his host made him feel like maybe she wasn't ready. He had only recently gotten her to admit that she didn't want to butcher him in his sleep, after all. The problem was that he _was_ ready. He'd been ready for a long time.

.

He captured his stolen breath and placed a gentle kiss on that tender thigh once more before sliding his thumb over the folded skin between her thighs. She immediately shuddered with his presence, a delicate whimper invading her next breath. Then, something unexpected happened. His arm was being captured by her trembling touch and clutched for reassurance. His chest ached as he glanced her way, observing that her denied gaze was ceiling bound as she struggled to maintain a steady rhythm in her breath.

.

She was ready.

.

Neirah's jaw ached for how tight her teeth were ground and in the moment she was invaded, no matter how shallowly, she was certain her jaw would break. Her wheezing hiss shuddered as she drew it in, hot and damp with perspiration for her anxiety. It was happening.

.

Small nails bit sharply into his forearm, something she silently begged his forgiveness for as she sought any source of gravity to keep her mind from reeling numbly. She felt cowardly for her actions, but she couldn't withdraw them. She had never felt so vulnerable before, so completely at his mercy. It was an unusual sensation, and she had to admit that it frightened her.

.

Hearing broken fragments of his name against her lips didn't help with the fire burning in his loins; nothing could save him from that. What he didn't know was that if he could handle another minute listening to his warrior goddess come undone against him. She was merciless when they fought, all the snarky little shrew she could muster. But like all the times he'd caught her off guard, all the times that tripped up his step and made him stumble into her arms, she was trusting him with the woman she'd locked inside in order to be strong for the life she was forced to endure. Trusting him with her tears, her tender words…

.

Her heart.

.

He sealed his eyes tightly when his thumb brushed across her clitoris for the first time since he'd smoothed his way past her soft labia and her startled cry stilled the night. He was too inebriated to back away, to show her tremoring thighs mercy. The heat beneath his lips was searing and above all else, she hadn't attempted to deny him once. He slipped his palm out from under her rump and captured her hand in his, allowing her the leverage she needed to clench when he finally had the taste that was causing his parched mouth to salivate behind sharpening canines.

.

For the first complete stroke of his tongue against her virgin slit, Neirah withheld her breath entirely, eyes flashing wide despite her vision distorting with her disorientation. Soon, the pressure of his hand was no longer tender and reassuring, it was merely a pasture for wild horses stampeding through her blood to graze upon. She clutched his bones for all she had, throwing her head back with a muffled shriek.

.

Her first instinct was to clench her thighs around the intrusion, something she felt him strongly discouraging with his free hand. Her stomach quivered in shuddering spasms, the toned lines of all three rows of muscle highlighting with every whimper. She struggled more with the fact that his face was between her thighs than she did with the actual pleasure; which was excruciating. A part of her may have wanted more, would even go so far as to demand it, but that wasn't the part that saw her face roasting with humility.

.

Her self-assurance wavered and her hand flinched towards the ache brewing between her partially spread thighs. What scared her was the unknown. Not even she knew what she looked like from such a lewd angle, much less tasted like. Was she appealing? _Appalling_? She shuddered at the thought and was thrown into a panicked frenzy. She tried to shut him out, gently uttering his name in pitiful attempts at denying him without outwardly rejecting his advance. It was then that she felt the reassuring clutching of his own hand around hers.

.

"Let me in…"

.

Her once wide eyes watered with agonisingly pleasurable waves as she was relieved by the cold chill of his gentle words uttered against sensitive skin. He could have spoken them as quietly as possible, but the ragged and desperate tone carving up the sentiment had the jagged peaks of his desire piercing her resolve. She took a deep breath, realising that the tension wracking their embrace was no longer hers; it was his. Her breaths were uneven as she peeked between the mountainous peaks that were her breasts.

.

His breathing was just as heavy, if not more-so. His lips were burning her thigh as they lingered parted against her skin, teeth exposed with the upturning quirk of his upper lip. His eyes were closed, so she allowed herself to linger and keep her gaze fixated for a few thundering heartbeats.

.

After the moment had passed, she tenderly wriggled her fingers free of his grip and used the hand to support her as she steadied her part-rise for petting facilitation. She let her gaze fall weightily as she softly combed her fingers through his hair. A small amount of relief softened his expression as he raked his teeth over her tanned skin in a gentle bite. He was strained in the entirety of his body, his words filled with desperation as they were uttered.

.

"Don't make me fuck this up." His demand was cautionary, and he had yet to raise from where he looked ready to tear the flesh from her femur.

.

She silently cleared her throat for speech and nodded, despite his eyes being shut while he lingered. "I'm sorry…" She breathed out her words hesitantly, continuing to stroke his hair like she thought it was helping.

.

Laxus slowly removed her hand from the top of his head, knocking it down to his nape as he shifted a calm, ravenous side-glance her way. He enclosed her fingers beneath his and encouraged her to linger once he'd parted. "Don't apologise for my weakness," he scolded. The rabid edge in his tone had successfully masked the true sentiment of his encouraging words.

.

She couldn't take the intensity of his presence any longer so she returned to counting the imperfections on the ceiling. She remained in an elevated position against the bed so that she could encourage his continuation with her pressure on the back of his neck that he seemed to appreciate. Even after she'd felt him return to his distraction, she let her head bob discretely in self-assurance.

.

It took _everything_ he had to refrain from throwing her onto her front and drawing her haunches up against his hips to ravage. Brick by brick he was slowly falling apart, the smokescreen of his collapse blinding him to the tender truth. He tried to make it seem innocent, the way he dipped low to gently kiss the beginning of the separation between her thighs. He needed to mask the arousal that came with the deep inhale filling him with her stimulating scent.

.

He was relieved to feel the tension escaping her thighs, especially the one linked over his shoulder. She trusted him, and that made him hotter than hell.

.

Slow and gentle seemed to escape his comprehension as he reached beneath her and returned both palms to the cheeks at her back, spreading them and drawing them forward to the edge of the bed he lingered hungrily before. He took comfort in knowing that the coarse strokes of his tongue could only be so rough, a comfort that allowed him, at least in part, to expel some of the tense and brewing need inside him.

.

Unfortunately, the comfort he found was the edge of a precipice, one he hoped to transcend by delving inside the humid confines of her body. He lapped like he could drink her in; every gentle taste a breath detrimental to his survival. Her eager moans were starting to fizzle into his comprehension and the thought intimidated him. He could feel control slipping every time his tongue grazed extended canines. He had nothing to rein in his primal ambitions but the smell of sakura on the roots of her tresses that draped over the bedside.

.

Her grip on his hair tightened as tense fingers sank into her rear and jerked her hips from the mattress and into his needy affections. He didn't care if her elevated moans kept their neighbours awake, he needed to hear them, needed to receive intoxication from the sounds she emitted beneath the strong tongue plunging inside her.

.

Both of her small hands found the back of his head, her modesty failing her as she propped her second leg over his shoulder and clutched his head to her flushed mound. The pressure made him moan, eager to test her limits and increase her desperation.

.

Ever-so-gently, he allowed his front teeth to brush past the swollen nub of roused nerves trying to hide beneath petals yet to bloom. His senses ignited with the presence of whines elevated gutturally with arousal. Deep, womanly; filled less with fear and more with lusting desire. He withdrew his tongue from inside her and lapped gently at the assaulted flesh before sucking it back behind teeth ready to breach boundaries.

.

He audaciously growled at the frenzied jerk of his lover's hands in hair, his roots burning beneath her desperation. He couldn't consciously facilitate the fear he had of hurting her in the moment she demanded his efforts continue. His fingers were so tightly embedded in her tender backside that she would surely be marked black and blue by his demand.

.

In an exhausting effort, he managed to tear his lips from between her thighs and gasp for breath. "Fuck." He spat his words in a quiet mutter, thrilled with the way his abrasive idiosyncrasies made her whine hungrily with arousal.

.

He retracted one palm from beneath her and slid his fingers over the commingling of saliva with her awakening to mortal desire. While he spread the slick fluid over the entrance to her quivering body, he allowed himself the subtlest of moments for observation. She was a delightedly tousled mess of kinky auburn locks and rose-highlighted skin glistening in perspire. But what made his gut tighten in restrained arousal was the thin nail marks scrawled over one of her luscious breasts beneath a hardened nipple.

.

She was obviously distracted by his touch, but she tried her hardest to mimic the delight of the experiences he'd offered her moments before, an effort that made him hunger for her enthusiasm.

.

His knees ached as he raised from the floor and rested one of them on the mattress alongside her, only slightly disappointed when her legs fell from his shoulders with the effort. His sudden shift had attracted her attention and her widening sapphires glossed with sedation, blinking back at him over a breathlessly parted pout.

.

He buried one set of knuckles in the mattress aside her head, careful to avoid that her hair splayed wildly around them in untameable waves. He watched her reach out to touch stray members of one finger set to the ink encasing the trembling cage of flesh beating with his heart. He wasn't any more consolidated in his appeal, that was for sure. The only difference became that he struggled to contain experience, not give into its influence.

.

He kept one palm between her thighs and thumb swirling the clit he'd stimulated with his eager wiles. When she had grown accustomed to the sensation and quieted a bit before him, he banished the hoarse rasp developing in his throat for speech. "Do you have any idea how long I tried to figure you out?" He admitted airily upon taking in every drop of sweat as it highlighted the swells and curves of her body. "What it'd take to turn you on…"

.

The slow stroke of his fingers paused when she made eye contact with him, her panting breaths weakened by his sentiment, eyes begging for completion. He dipped down and took her most recently teased nipple between his teeth, easing the burn of her tugging with his tongue. Once he'd nursed it, he was quick to rise and let their gazes meet again. "I didn't think I could."

.

The overwhelming crush of reality striking her with his bold admittance devastated her; to think that someone she had always held in such high esteem had felt struggles that she had known. That they were capable of hiding from each other for so long behind irritancy and a blatant disregard for the other was incomprehensible.

.

It wounded her.

.

Without another word, she reached both hands out and clutched his face between, summoning him forth to join their lips. She was becoming wiser in her approach and syphoned enough confidence from him that she could initiate the advance of the embrace by sliding her soft tongue past breathlessly parted teeth.

.

The effort ignited his passion and saw him enthusiastically seeking control of the interaction. Being the much larger party, overwhelming her into submission was never very difficult. It was something he loved and hated at once. Parts of him refused to die, and the thrill of the internal battle raging between the angel and demon inside him only heightened the feeling of euphoria when either side conquered. It was his permanent inebriation.

.

With verbal intent, he lurched in retreat and staggered breaths between demands. "Don't forget I'm here." The words startled and perplexed her as she fought to remain inquisitive even between the shallow pecks he scattered over her chin and neckline. He had made it to her shoulder when he uttered his final warning. "Hold onto me."


	4. Through the Pain

_**Through the Pain**_

* * *

.

.

It didn't take her long to find the same page as him, and when she did, she was lurching forth into his suggestion. If she hadn't of been so overwhelmed by the pressure of his finger inside her, she silently assured herself that she would've slapped his arrogant smirk from his face as it curled the lips pressed to her shoulder.

.

"I told you I'm here."

.

"Not helping," she demanded in a hoarse shout. She ground her teeth with hopes of stifling her anxious whimper, her whine desperate and shameful. "Hn, why does it hurt? Nobody said anything about it hurting!"

.

He knew her gentle complaint was meant to be rhetorical, but the way she bore down on him and locked up around his presence wasn't going to help with her comfort. "Easy…" He raised his free hand to the back of her head and slowly massaged her nape through the thick curtain of hair at her back. "Relax, would you?" He droned his words tenderly, trying his hardest to sound casual as he worked his finger between her thighs. The last thing she needed to know was that he was just as anxious and needy. If for a moment, he wanted to try and make it all about her. "Clenching like that probably isn't helping." His thoughts faded into fantasy as he closed his eyes and increased the pressure of his palm on her nape so to encourage her into the kiss he placed on her temple. "Fuck, at least I hope this isn't just you… I know you're tiny but…"

.

Neirah threw her head back with a desperate cry, but aside from release, the gesture also had the dual purpose of hiding her mortification. Her nails sank into the shoulders she clung to until he was groaning with the pain of her resistance. "No, Laxus I can't… It hurts so-" Neirah was whimpering as he withdrew his fingers and took a hold of her, rotating her swiftly in his lap.

.

She was adjusted to face away from him, driven to her knees with her back pressed against his chest. He had taken a more comfortable position on the bed behind her. She could feel his hips press tight to her tailbone and moments later one leg was stretching alongside her knee as his other raised against her side. He tipped his lips to her bare shoulder blade and tickled her skin with his speech. "Are you ready to stop all your whining and listen?"

.

She quickly swung her head to the side, a weak smile on her lips as she panted and managed to glimpse him out of her strained adjustment in gaze. "When do I ever listen to _you_?"

.

He wasn't missing a beat when he placed a gentle kiss on her shoulder and stared past her into the room around them. "And what happened last time you didn't listen?"

.

Neirah's heart sank grimly as she also adjusted her gaze to stare vacantly forward.

.

She'd almost lost him forever.

.

"What is it…?" She whispered softly in compliance. He had been the better man when he managed to admit that he didn't want to fight any longer, something she should have admitted long before that night. She didn't want to be the cause of them taking two steps back; not when they'd come so far.

.

He gave his thumb a lick before smoothing his fingers down her front and rolling it over still-sensitive nerves. "Spread your thighs until it hurts. And before you go gettin' modest, just remember that I've seen you do an aerial split because you weren't patient enough to take two enemy heads one at a time."

.

Neirah flinched and looked down at the knees she sat upon, quivering as her clitoris was stimulated carefully beneath his thumb while he waited for her to obey. Her face ignited as he robbed her of the only excuse she might have had to keep from opening up to him. "That's so lewd," she groaned defiantly through trembling breaths.

.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm back here now. I can't see shit," he murmured. He nuzzled her hair from her collar before he rested his chin on her shoulder and placed a gentle kiss on the side of her neck. "Not that something like that should be on your priority list after getting a mouthful of y-"

.

"Laxus!"

.

"Damn, you're pretty in that shade," he gently taunted. He indulged his fingertips in the feverish heat of her flushed skin, if only for a moment. Next, he curled his second hand around her and took one of her breasts into his palm, kneading the flesh hungrily before giving her nipple a playful tweak. "Nobody else is going to see you," he assured her tenderly. He couldn't help but delight in the breathless moans to fill his ears with his absent fondling. "It's just us for once…"

.

Neirah's upper lip stretched thinly over her pouty lower when she silently obeyed his suggestion, slowly spreading the legs she knelt upon until her groin started to burn with the strain of the pressure. What frustrated her was that even that smidgeon of pain felt erotic. It was almost comforting.

.

He laid his forearm across both of her breasts, smothering them as he pressed her tighter to his chest. "That's it, just breathe."

.

Neirah watched his fingers stroke her from between her breasts when he shifted his forearm away from their mass. "I know you're trying to be comforting, but you're really not," she ascertained while continuing to pant in panicked anticipation. His light scoff of amusement rattled against her neck as he took one of her hands and stretched it back to his nape. The act of rolling her shoulder puffed her chest out as immodestly as she was forced to spread her thighs. She couldn't possibly be any more open for an imaginary viewer. Her brow knotted curiously for the suggestion as her fingertips met the fair hair on the back of his neck. "Is this supposed to help too?"

.

Laxus rested his chin on her shoulder, remaining close to her to minimise the strain of his encouragement. He grinned and slowly shook his head in denial. "No, I just like how it feels," he admitted bluntly. The effort he exhausted in speech caused her to shiver as he brushed his fingertips over the sensitive underside of the stretched appendage. When his arm freed, he focused on encasing her defensively beneath him to shelter her dainty figure by his. The euphoric feeling overwhelmed him.

.

Her small smile was sad looking as she furrowed her brow and tugged lightly on his roots. Her big brother had hated when she pulled his hair as a child, even if it was to get his attention. It was so strange to hear someone encourage the act, especially when that someone was Laxus. "When I play with your hair? You like it?"

.

The intensity of her shiver was visible when he pressed his lips to her ear to boldly rumble his reply. "It turns me on."

.

"I'll stay," she swiftly agreed in a mousy tone. She was almost intimidated by the heat of his breath so close to her pulse. She hadn't really noticed how long his hair had grown over the last year or so, not until it was tangled between her fingers. She shifted her attention to where she could watch him work and her heart was racing with anticipation. She knew that at any moment his fingers would try to disappear inside her and the worry made her thighs shudder in recoil.

.

Laxus took her second hand and rested it beneath his against her firm stomach just beneath the tail of the shooting star at her navel. "Now," he encouraged gently. "You know I've loved your tight little body since the day I laid eyes on it, but I don't need it any tighter than it is right now."

.

"What do you mean?" She whispered unsteadily.

.

He slipped his fingers between hers and continued to press them to her soft, relaxed skin. "You'll feel it from here when I'm inside you again, the way you stiffen up." He tipped his chin to one side, letting his nose linger against her gently flushed skin for a moment of indulgence. "Don't."

.

She took a deep breath into her puffed chest, her hand flexing around the back of his neck with her anxiety. "And if it hurts?"

.

"It won't for long."

.

Neirah leant to one side so that she could link their gazes and absorb his confidence. She understood very little about what she was experiencing that night, but she did realise that the snail-steady pace they'd been crawling at was entirely for her benefit. She offered him a small smile as she felt the grind of his uncomfortable adjustment behind her. "Thank you," she whispered appreciatively. And just in case he didn't take her gratitude seriously, she gently fondled a handful of his hair to show him that she really was paying attention.

.

She didn't remove her smile as he leaned forward and covered her lips with his. The effort was gentle at first, but the moment she felt his tongue begging for passage in a small prod against her lips, she was more than willing to offer him the sensation he needed. It was then, the same moment his tongue plunged past her teeth, that his finger was thrusting up into her body beneath the heat of his palm. She could immediately feel her abdomen flexing with her resistance to the pain and she quickly adjusted knowing that his hand lingering atop hers was equally as aware.

.

She sighed into their kiss, her brow knotting as her chest expanded with the deep, tremoring breaths she sucked inside. It was still uncomfortable, to have him within her, but as he assured her, it was far less than before. She tugged on his hair with the casual strain rather than tightening her lower half, something the passion of his kiss encouraged her to continue. As he stroked her, she could feel the rise of fluid on her thighs. It was noticeable for the chill it brought when the air of the room cooled burning skin. As humiliated as she was, it didn't seem to bother him so she was reassured that it was likely natural. The pain had almost slipped away with the loss of friction.

.

She was almost ready to moan again.

.

Backing away from her kiss, he allowed her a moment to whine with delight. In response, her head tipped back and her breath formed a steamy cloud with the release of a stifling interior body temperature. "I told you," he murmured triumphantly against her shoulder. "Things go a hell of a lot smoother when you just relax and let me in." He smiled to himself as her cheeks coloured with his words, the tips of her ears rosy with shame. He groaned lightly and gave her ear a gentle nip. "Obviously something's got you hot." He pressed his lips to her shoulder and closed his eyes as he extended his finger almost to the knuckle inside her. "Wet…"

.

"Stop it," came her breathy response.

.

He narrowed his gaze to mere slits and watched her carefully behind his sinister smirk. "Stop what?" He instigated. "Can't be what's goin' on down there because I can feel your heart beating against my chest through your shoulders." He watched her colour silently deepen, her tight lips silent as her chest swelled instinctively forward. "Don't." His encouragement was rooting her back to him with the hand he'd placed over hers. "Just get used to me."

.

He watched her through his weighted gaze as she whimpered and whined, pleasurably squirming against him. Confident that moisture had slickened her entrance comfortably, he started to adjust the intensity of his pace. "Try to keep up, Princess."

.

He loved the resulting response to his arrogant quip, the pressure on his skull chasing an appreciative hiss from inside him. Her eager moans encouraged him when he brushed his thumb over her throbbing clit with each stroke, the swollen bud so stimulated that it was hard to avoid. What really made his chest ache by force of his own eager libido, was the gentle rock of her hips against the pump of his finger inside her. "Tiny Dancer," he rumbled huskily. He raked his teeth delicately over her shoulder in hopes of calming his internal hunger for her flesh. "Fuck, you make me crazy… You can bet I'll be testing your limits tonight."

.

"Laxus, stop talking," she unintentionally howled.

.

"Why?" He didn't mean to respond in such a sinister hiss, but the buck of her hips against his fingers also nursed the steeling erection pressed alertly against her rump as she rocked. "When it's so blatantly obvious that it's driving _you_ crazy."

.

He all but growled as she flinched with the sudden jolt of heightened arousal washing over her for the first time, her hand beneath his flexing against her own stomach. The elbow connected, however, was tightening in unison, and rubbing just hard enough against the split in his chest to remind him that he wasn't invincible that night. His breath released him like steam escaping.

.

"You're always so quiet. Why _now_ do you decide to get chatty?" Neirah demanded in broken segments. "You're such an instigating brute!"

.

He hated the taste of perspiration on her flesh as his nearness encouraged its presence. He had just managed to retrieve his thoughts for himself, but they were barreling away with his mortal sanity all over again.

.

Neirah retracted both of her arms and threw them against his thighs at her side, fingers clenched and nails biting the surface with her tension. She was obviously a little too overwhelmed to hear his haggard grunt of pain when her arm crashed back into his wound for a second assault. His delicate flower uttered a startled cry of indignity, completely forgetting his lessons in comfort as she flexed and weaved. All the while, though, she never once stopped rocking against his touch. He may have pushed to strain her snug channel, but she wasn't denying it. She was embracing him.

.

With his second hand free, he moved toward guilty indulgence. He continued to stroke her, his breathing uneven as he tried to catch it. Then, with his second clammy palm, he reached past his own waistline and wrapped his hand around the cock eagerly awaiting the kind of stimulation he'd been offering her that night.

.

He gave himself a tight squeeze at the base of his shaft, working his way up and out in time with the thrust of his finger against her. He closed his eyes, the furrow in his features intensifying his expression with irritated desperation. He should have known that fueling the fire in his veins was an unwise decision when he was already aiming with a hairpin trigger. He was battling some serious inner conflict on the sedation of her eager moans. A part of him wanted to indulge and force his way into her memory with rough hands, but another part of him encouraged himself to remember that she held his heart and to abuse his position put him at risk of losing its beat.

.

He wanted to be better than that.

.

For her.

.

"Fuck," he muttered discontentedly. He wanted to beg her not to stop, but he was in control. The reaction he wanted to inspire from her was a result of his own touch and realising that he was moments from begging her for something she had no control over made him realise just how desperate he was. The throbbing of his thighs beneath her blazing palms mixed with her frantic cries to the still room around them had him aching, a discomfort not nearly brought to ease with the steady pump of his hand around his own arousal. He drove his forehead between her shoulder blades, her hair surrounding him with her scent.

.

The scent of… fucking… flowers.

.

"I died today…" His mutter was grim as he clenched his teeth with the build-up of lust burning in his gut. His breath wasn't his own. It came in time with hers and if she stopped, so would he. He was completely at her mercy. "Now I'm just tryin' to figure out if this is heaven or hell."

.

He was notably startled when she whirled in his grip with a desperate whimper, throwing her arms around him and knocking him back onto the bed. The impact forced a winded catch in his breath as her weighted torso landed on top of him, the sharp pain of her disturbance tearing through his chest. He threw his head back with an anxious groan, eyes sealed tightly enough to display bright spots against his eyelids.

.

He was more than acceptant of the clumsy crash of her lips against his, devouring his mouth with a lust-driven hunger. A low groan rattled in his chest as strong arms came around her tiny figure on top of him, clutching her dearly through the pain. Since he'd had an opportunity to comprehend her gesture, he adjusted a little more comfortably beneath her heat. The temperature of her body was searing even through his pants as she rolled the hips of a dancer over the enthusiastic presence of his cock beneath.

.

The feeling of being so close to having her was overwhelming. He didn't regret the wait, but he couldn't remember a situation that he'd ever worked himself so tight with anticipation. He lowered her arms around her sides and wrapped his fingers tightly around her thighs, the weight of her backside soft against his tight, encouraging crawl towards it. His strong grip helped her adjust above him to suit his purpose, thighs splayed wide so that the subtle rocking of his hips beneath her saw her stimulated with his effort. His success moaned into their kiss and tightened his grip on her hips until she was forced to settle firmly against his length by his greed.

.

She didn't deny the intimacy, in fact, she was so thrilled with the near embrace that she tore away from the kiss and gave her hips a steady grind as she straightened. He leant his head back with a humid sigh. He lingered on the sentiment of her actions for a moment before returning his sated gaze to where she arched in his lap. "Why do I feel like once you've gotten the hang of this I'm gonna have a fucking freak on my hands?" He was far too intoxicated with their affections to worry about how absolutely crude he must have sounded with his blunt observations.

.

She didn't want to confirm or deny his theory, but what _was_ coming for their time together, was a smile; one broad and filled with joy. She couldn't remember a time where she had had so much fun just being close to someone. She straddled his hips, retracting both hands from where they had been resting on his chest so that she could raise them slowly towards the ceiling. Fingers floated through the air in absent waves as she closed her eyes and lengthened her body.

.

He groaned dimly, rolling his head to one side in inquisitive observance. "What… are you doing?" His dim mutter was half coherent. As strange as her gesture, it put her on beautiful display to his hungry gaze and her subliminal beckoning had his fingers stretching forth of their own accord to fill his hands with the gorgeous mounds of flesh hanging on full exhibition before him. He had never considered her normal, but even for a virgin, her quirks were incredibly unusual. He wouldn't admit that maybe her efforts that looked like a sacrificial offering to the Gods disturbed him at times. He hoped, at least, that they'd both survive the night.

.

She didn't care if he was disturbed that she boldly laughed, however lightly, with his curious comment. "It doesn't feel real," she whispered blissfully. "After all these years…"

.

'Should I tell her human sacrifice isn't going to help with that?' He mused vacantly. He released her breasts to settle his fingers against her spine with his thoughts. 'I know she grew up with the freaks, but I didn't think it stuck.' He liked to tease a reaction out of her, the spark of her defiance always excited him. But she was right. Something about their situation didn't seem real. His palms had crawled their way to her thighs as he forced her into the subtly eager grind of his hips beneath her. "But it's about to," he murmured quietly.

.

A normal person may have missed his lewd insinuation, but not her. She came down off her high and once she was pressed firmly against his chest once more, she opened glowing eyes to look into his. "Make it real," she whispered tenderly with a blissful shimmer in her loving gaze. "Make us… real…"

.

To Laxus, blood and molten rock became synonymous in his next breath. It wasn't that she was begging for him to be inside of her, it was the way she said it.

.

Real.

.

 _Make us real._

.

It had been real to him for months, but to have her on top of him, staring down at him with devotion glistening in lively azure eyes, he didn't have words. His brow creased with his consideration as he swept back her tangled tresses, securing them behind her ear. She responded with a kind smile and if his body didn't burn so badly for hers, he would have considered staying that way for the entire night.

.

The look of discomforting alarm on her face made him think twice, though. It took him a moment to realise that her gaze had wandered and stolen her breath. "Laxus, your injuries."

.

And there it was, the nurturing look of devotion that nursed him when he felt broken inside. It was the warmth of a kind of woman who was too pure and delicate to hold in the ways he needed to hold her. A saviour for his sin. He was denying himself the sight as quickly as possible. He'd come too far that night to lose the chance he had to share experiences with her that she'd never share with another.

.

"Fuck my injuries." He growled, sinking his fingertips into her hips. He'd go until he couldn't force his body to respond any longer. She whimpered softly as she was rolled over beneath him in an effortless display of strength and fortitude. His lips were ravaging her kiss a moment after, hiding the bitter pain of his actions behind his insatiable hunger for her. He refused to take their night away, their one night. They had sacrificed too much time over the years and he couldn't bear the thought of going back to the vague appreciation that saw them civil but distant. He needed to push them further, straight to the point of no return. He couldn't be without her any longer, not when he'd had a taste of what it was like to be in her arms. He didn't care if it was greed that pushed him beyond his body's limits, he wasn't slowing down.

.

His pants weren't long before they were falling to the floor, his now bare hips pressed against hers and sliding the naked skin of his erection between her moist thighs. He jerked on the sagging bandages that were supported by his shoulder. Their amorous activities had obviously loosened the dressing and the free ends had started getting in the way of his advances. He heaved a breathless sigh into their kiss as he knocked the gauze free and felt the refreshing rush of air cooling skin that was hot and damp with perspiration. Moving forward, he thrust one balled fist into the mattress alongside her head to support himself while his other set of fingers slipped up beneath her knee and encouraged her to hook it around his hip. She flushed shyly, at first, but the obvious look of determined arousal on his face likely encouraged her to comply. He wanted her wide, he wanted her all.

.

Needed. He was white hot with need.

.

She was whining too feverishly against his lips, arms wrapped around his neck and nails biting into already scratched skin that stretched tightly over his determined muscles. She couldn't comprehend the feeling of the first drop of his blood to fall against the swell of her left breast where ebony fairy wings used to flutter. And if there was ever a doubt that he'd bleed for her, it vanished the moment he pressed the head of his cock firmly to her slick entrance and captured her breath with the blooming of her petals beneath him.

.

He hated being out of control, it scared him. But it seemed that the freight train of emotions barrelling unmanned down the tracks of forever was the foundation they'd built their entire relationship upon. He was completely lost to a beast that he would enthusiastically deny ever existed inside him.

.

The shadows of his past didn't define him, they tormented him and his heart ached to restrain emotions desperately fighting for release. He wanted to hold her so tightly that she cried, knowing that the only person who would benefit from the indulgence of his affections was him. His nightmare deepened when her hands found his body, her soft, pitiful moans filling his senses with primal lust. The pain was excruciating as every muscle beneath his skin flexed with restraint, acting as the leash on something fiercer as it stirred in his belly.

.

"I can't-" He closed his eyes to keep the salt of his sweat from beading into them. He wanted to apologise for losing his head, wanted to beg her to stop him. He didn't know if he'd be able to fight the strain of his hunger on his own. "Please, don't stop me…" His plea was contradicting to his feelings, gently uttered but dripping with malice like his soft request was intended as a honeyed threat.

.

He knew that she was delicate. Even if she was a well-developed woman, she was inexperienced, untouched.

.

She was so… little.

.

She hated when he referred to her as such, but he loved it. It fascinated him that such a fragile creature could turn him into such a helplessly pathetic mess. The humility was excruciating and made his temperature rise. "Neirah, I can't-" His mind was reeling out of his control and the sensation left him so distraught that he thought he might fall to the floor with his disorientation. "It's killing me…" He didn't think she'd receive the literal weight of his sentiment when he uttered such an overused colloquialism.

.

But she did.

.

He was forced to open his eyes just to make sure her fingers hadn't ignited in flame moments before they were laid against the sides of his face. "Please stop," she whispered tenderly. Her nurturing affection filled his tired soul with waves of relief. "Laxus, I can't stand it when you're like this."

.

"I can't help it," he admitted bleakly. "The things I feel when I'm with you..."

.

Neirah rolled beneath him, adjusting her hips to where the swell of his shallow advance had her in slight discomfort. "Tell me," was her encouraging reply. "What do you feel that scares you so badly when we're together?"

.

He looked back at her, an exhausted murkiness weighing his gaze as it grew vacant with admittance. The room became the opposite of silent when she asked for his answer, her kindness so welcoming that he was forced to speak the truth even if it tore him up on the inside to do so. He tried to raise his voice so that it was comprehensible over the alarms sounding in his ringing ears, but he had barely managed to do so. "I want to hurt you."

.

He was cynical. His bold admittance might've scared off a less attentive woman, but not her. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to hold her; afraid of holding too tightly. It could be said about her small framed body beneath the might of his, it could be said about the hearts they exchanged that night. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to love her.

.

She wasn't afraid, he was.

.

She rose her hips and gave them an encouraging shift, trying not to wince too bad with the increase of pressure between her thighs. "We're going to have to work on your pillow talk," she assured him tenderly. She slid her hands back over his shoulders to beckon him closer. "I know it's going to hurt at first." Her tone was encouraging, using his own words against him as she uttered them softly against his ear. "But it won't for lon-"

.

Well, she had tried to exude confidence. That was until she reached between them and barely wrapped her own hand around the shaft positioned to ravage her. Her second hand tightened her grasp on the back of his neck to keep him from pulling back to watch the colour drain from her face with the inherited realisation. She fought everything she had to keep from demanding that their union was physiologically impossible and proceeded to beckon his advance with tender strokes. 'Oh god, please tell me it won't for long.'

.

He didn't seem too convinced with her encouragement and she felt like that was partially her fault for fumbling with her assurance. She took a deep breath in preparation knowing that the storm would be upon her moments after she resorted to her second plan of attack. She drew him close and her lips pressed to his ear as she spoke her words in a tender rasp against him. "I'm not a faerie, Laxus. I never was." She swallowed her fears, releasing his shaft to slide her tense fingers over his haunches in beckoning. She took a deep breath, feeling the tension beneath her nails as she pressured him to continue. "I've always been a dragon." She could hear his breath hold, feel the tension between them becoming unbearable as she slid her tongue over the channels of his ear. Her upper lip quirked upwards on one side. She tried to remain confident, strong in the face of the beast she was preparing to unleash, but the thrill remained. She repeated her needy offence, nails nipping his nape as she held him still against her seduction. "I won't be defeated by this."

.

He had grown numb to the world around him. His heartbeat was the thunder deafening him, the sparks fizzling on his fingertips only a small example of the static firing off every nerve in his body. She was toxic, and his lips parted for her poison. His jaw ached with the pressure of teeth ground by the force of his internal dispute. He'd been given her permission to lose control like she knew what she was up against. He had so many things he wanted to say, so many emotions washing over him that he needed to articulate, and his excuse for bottling them was that he couldn't talk with his mouth full of hers.

.

He pressed his hips towards hers, listening cautiously as she stole her breath back and jerked away from their kiss. His length was a questionable enough accommodation, but the pain that stung her so soon was the absorption of his girth. He took the opportunity to withdraw his hand and lay it on the top of her head, feeling her fever rise for a moment before lacing his fingers in her roots. The retraction of his shallow thrust was the moment she took in a breath to be stolen by his next assault. But before he took it, he lingered a moment against her shoulder. He placed a soft kiss against her tender throat as it was exposed during the tipping of her brow, and after that, he guiltlessly indulged by burying his face in the mess of auburn waves strewn about their lodging. He just needed one last moment to try and articulate all the words and emotions bouncing around the hollow walls of his mind.

.

And he did.

.

"I love you." He sighed and pressed his forehead to her temple, feeling the pulse of her racing heartbeat against his chest above. He knew that she wasn't particularly fond of the statement, but as trivial as it seemed to her, he wanted her to hear it. It was simple, and something he didn't say in vain. She had his heart, and she needed to hear it before he went any further. It might help her forgive him for the transgressions to come. "Neirah..."

.

 _Have mercy on this love-struck fool._

.

Her cries were too sweet for him to handle as the depth of his next thrust saw her innocence forever his memory to cherish. He wished that he'd had more time; days, weeks to hold her, prepare her for the gentle transition. But deep inside he knew that he wouldn't be capable. His feelings for her were too strong to be contained, and so long as she forgave him for the pain, he'd have no regrets.

.

He felt her bucking against him, her body too tight to comprehend. The pleasure it gave him alone was enough to draw sweat to his brow. He bit back his bitter curse and retrieved one of his palms, smoothing it firmly over her abdomen to push her hips back down onto the bed. His heart ached when she reached out and laid trembling fingers on the top of his hand, clinging to it in reverse to the way he had earlier.

.

They really did rely on each other for strength.

.

He leant forward and silenced her guttural cries with a kiss, deep and ungainly between gasping breaths. He took the taste of her tears into consideration as they met their lips. He had to believe that she was strong enough to push through the pain too. Relief filled him as his next push was met with far less friction than the last. He had to at least pretend that the thought of trace amounts of blood easing her pain was unwelcome. The savage reality was that it filled him with a feeling of supremacy and the primordial urge had to be contained.

.

Her laboured panting broke their kiss and her head fell back. Her whines were a dangerous combination of _about to cry_ and _please don't stop_ , the sensation of feeling them against his neck had him conflicted. Her moans seemed to be softening, but there was a chance he'd been deafened by her initial claim. Even so, he decided that he was going to try to steal another kiss, desperate to cling to the intimacy that reminded him he was still human.

.

She received him gratefully, her trembling fingers climbing his shoulders to clutch his head firmly against hers. He retrieved his hand from her belly and pushed her hair back from where it clung to her face. "Almost there," he whispered between tender kisses.

.

'Almost?!' She blared subconsciously. "Is it rude… to ask a man why he's so big?"

.

He was too busy concealing hungry growls to emit the laugh that tickled his chest. "Why are your boobs so big? Turn the tables, Princess, and you tell me."

.

Neirah threw her head back again, moaning in agonised pleasure through her smile. "God, you're a brute." Nails buried in his skin with her demand as they descended to his broad shoulders once again.

.

"Would it kill you to act like you're enjoying it at least a little?" He murmured quietly against her collar. He loved how she moaned in response to his coaxing. She obviously enjoyed having his voice to remind her he was with her. "I feel like I'm the only one who needs this." He gave one last slow push; his hips close to meeting hers. His throat worked dryly as he listened to her strain, the well of his presence causing the back of her throat to itch with the need to articulate the overwhelming insertion.

.

'So close,' he thought desperately. He reached down to stimulate the sensitive bundle of nerves he had yet to reach with his pelvis. He groaned as she bucked instinctively with the jolts of electricity firing off inside her, her appreciation for the distraction vocalised. He needed to know his limits, praying that she could accommodate a couple more inches. For his sake, he hoped she could. He didn't know how much more restraint he could take. The slow ride of his hips against hers certainly helped to adjust her to a breadth that originally overwhelmed her, but if she couldn't take the entirety of his length, every stroke would have to be moderated. 'Just give me… a little more…' He needed to be free of those restrictions. She was stifling, embracing him so tightly that he wasn't sure he'd be able to last if his pace _was_ able to grow more aggressive.

.

A weight was lifted off his shoulders when the distance between them had closed entirely and left his shaft almost completely accommodated by her. 'Fuck, good girl.' His thoughts were desperate, realising that nothing but fate could have seen him fit so perfectly inside her. He expelled a seriously ragged breath and just held himself tight to her limits, feeling her quiver around him with every breath. "You were made for me," he groaned before stealing another passionate kiss.

.

Neirah's screech was loud and interrupted his kiss before she could fully enjoy it. She recoiled into the mattress, arching her chest on full display as his erection connected with her cervix, pushing its limits as he squeezed inside her. She tried to squirm, but his palm was heavy on her broad hip, pressing her back into the comfort of the sheets. "It'll start getting easier," he assured her as tenderly as a completely satisfied man could. "Fuck, I promise, just stay."

.

Neirah struggled to open her eyes. There was something in his tone that made her tremble and she wanted to look at him as he answered her question. "You enjoy this?"

.

She barely had a chance to finish asking her question before he was spitting out his reply. "Fuck, yes."

.

She moaned. She absolutely loved the hoarse rasp roughening his edges when he was elated. "You know," she whispered inanely. "If another man tried to do these things, I would throw him out the window." She thought her comment held humorous merit with their past. She thought maybe he could take comfort in some playful banter.

.

He didn't seem to see it that way.

.

"I'd kill him," he admitted bleakly. He was unsure of where the sudden swell of jealousy came from. "I swear they wouldn't even find his ashes. The thought of someone else, being here-" He was ushered back into reality as she firmly gripped his face and drew his gaze to hers.

.

" ** _I_** would kill him. That's what I was suggesting," she assured him bluntly. In her defence, she really didn't know to expect he'd take intercourse so seriously. "I was trying to make you feel special, you bulky beast."

.

"Then tell me you love me," he recommended hungrily. "That's all that matters, that I can walk out of here tomorrow callin' you mine." He could almost feel her growing slick around his length, obviously aroused by his intimacy. Even he had to admit that being so comfortably vulnerable with her was uplifting.

.

"How did I miss that you were so charming?"

.

"If you had any idea how high I got from hearing you say that you give a damn, it would lose a bit of that."

.

She reached out and took his face in her hands, smiling against the tender kiss she offered him. "Fine," she mewled. "I love you."

.

A playful little grin stirred in his lips like he wanted to smile, a defiant growl rattled inside him instead. "Like you mean it," he rumbled against her neck. He took the spirited opportunity to begin working his hips against hers once more.

.

She was interrupted by her gentle whines but responded to his demand in like amusement. "Hahhh, I love you!" She moaned a bit more passionately, nails ripping into the skin on his shoulders as she lurched forwards and clung to her strong lover for stability.

.

When she tipped her head back to moan, he slid his fingers tightly over her pulse. It was difficult for him to contain his own desperation when it felt so good to have her hugging him tightly with every pump of his shaft inside her. "I don't think you mean it…" His instigation graciously received his punishment when she struck his chest in a flustered frenzy. The painful sting, from the claw marks on his back to the bruises on his body; he'd never felt more alive than when he was wrapped up in her. "And what about my name?" He teased a little more genuinely. "Do you think you could manage that?"

.

She smiled back at him, aware that her response to his demands was making his temperature rise. "It seems to have slipped my mind," she pestered upon leaning into his chest. Noticing that she was struggling to lean up against him, if only partially, he facilitated assistance beneath the pressure of his fingers against her spine.

.

"I guess that _was_ a little much to ask of you right now."

.

She winced as the adjustment in her angle seemed to deepen the pressure between her thighs. She didn't expect such a handicap but didn't deny that every stroke had her body igniting in flame beneath his fervour. She had to remind herself of why she raised, and once she had, she slipped one hand back behind his neck to fondle the roots of his hair. She gave them a stern tug, drawing him near enough that she could lay her lips against his ear. "I am the authority on little around here, not you." Her assurance was stern, bearing her pleasure in her twisted grimace so to keep her words from trembling. "And there is nothing little about the affection I hold for a man that responds to the name of Laxus Dreyar."

.

He ached in hazy comprehension. "Why are you so fucking hard on me?"

.

"I could ask you the same question," she teased as she continued to make small adjustments to the way she leant close to him. "I'm ready now…"

.

He thought about her implications for a moment before concluding that she was ready to lengthen his leash. The thought both thrilled and terrified him. It also reminded him just how desperate he was to please her; when he so openly considered himself a dog at her heels. "You're no good for my sanity," he admitted roughly.

.

Neirah smiled her sweet, condescending smile and slowly traced his lips with one of her fingers. "Sweetie, if you were ever sane, you wouldn't be with me in the first place."

.

Provoking the beast was dangerous ground to tread, but she didn't have an ounce of hesitation in her expression; just seamless admiration and pride.

.

He bopped his forehead against hers, the intensity of the pressure forcing her to recede slightly. She leant back on one hand as the other continued to fondle handfuls of hair. "Uh oh, you have that look again…"

.

He adjusted above her to regain his leverage and offered a gentle kiss before responding. "This is all a game to you."

.

She smiled with his wry tease. "Laxus, two things in this world bring me great joy. Stealing my big brother's boots and teasing you," she purred with her sass nuzzling into his neck. She gave his throat a gentle lick, unaware of the metaphorical sparks it shot through his entirety. "Am I being too mean?"

.

"Fuck, you're a bitch…"

.

She tipped her head back and thrust her breasts forward on display, an elated bout of laughter filling the room as he lowered his kisses to her collar. "The mysterious little Infinity Empress, bullying the mighty Laxus Dreyar. Hold this weeks Sorcerer."

.

He groaned, contentedly accepting when she jerked his head just a little lower. The pressure in his loins grew as she all but fed him the hardened nub of one of her nipples, appropriately crying out when he hungrily ravaged her offering with due enthusiasm.

.

The result was Neirah's delighted sighs of ecstasy. "I can see you have the will of a lion," she mocked. She couldn't help but whine lustfully as she pet the man contentedly massaging her heavy breasts. "So easily manipulated by his little Shadow."

.

He could see she was dismayed with his retreat, but there were just some things he couldn't roll over and take. He raised once more and drew their lips together, setting her at ease with a long and passionate kiss before he rejected her comparison. "Not my Shadow," he assured her sternly while stroking the dark tattoos under one of her eyes with his thumb. "My light."

.

Her smile appeared, broadened, withdrew, and broadened once more until her delighted beam was raising the colour of her flushed cheeks. She simply threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply, unsure of how they'd let so much time slip through their fingers. Her grin remained through their kiss and pressed to his lips as she spoke afterwards. "Show me something that will make all the other girls jealous," she mewled sinisterly.

.

He responded with a ravenous growl and laid her out beneath him. His thrusts had remained slow and accommodating for long enough. "Mn… Yes, ma'am…"

.

Neirah threw her head back, her delighted wail of ecstasy cutting the night from behind her elated smile. She clutched his head to the breast he was devouring, her legs firmly wrapped around his hips by his command. It was still a bit uncomfortable when his hips crashed against hers, burying the entirety of his erection inside her, but she was learning to bear for the sake of his indulgence.

.

Her cheeks coloured as she recalled times her friends would mock and tease each other with sexual innuendos. It was hard for her to find the truth in what was encouraged and what was a faux pas. She nibbled on her lip, her body tight and trembling as she rocked back against his effort. "I- it doesn't hurt that much anymore," she half-fibbed. She hoped to rouse even the slightest reaction from him, but he seemed indifferent, if not grateful, but not much else.

.

'I should tell him I like it,' she thought helplessly between continued whines against his steady drive. 'I don't want him to think I'm not enjoying it…' Her thoughts were interrupted as he freed her first breast in order to eagerly lap at the second one, something she was certain he enjoyed just as much as she did. "Hn, Laxus." She mewled her encouraging pleas, stroking his hair yieldingly. A hot breath escaped her as she pressed the firm mound into his needy sucking and she immediately noticed a swell in fervour coming from his enthusiasm.

.

Her face flushed with humility as she watched him through her sedately narrowed gaze. "D-don't… stop?" Her entire body shuddered as he shifted his weighted gaze and watched her lazily out of the corner of his eye. She ground her teeth and looked away, too overcome by the seduction of his nonchalant effort to remain connected. "Yes, don't stop," she corrected. She was growing confident that her pleas were keeping him content.

.

She felt her throat swelling with the presence of every deep penetration and every now and then, it chased out trembling utterings of his name. She had never felt so close to someone, not just because they were vulnerable and naked in each other's arms either. She had been nervous at first when she noticed his sudden change in behaviour, but since, she had revived their playful wiles and seen her confidence restored. She'd never felt like her presence was so deeply cherished before. It was overwhelming.

.

His strokes remained deep, but they had grown swifter since she'd encouraged him to give her more. His breathing was ragged, teeth ground with eager need and fingers tight as he scooped her up by her lower back and tipped her to an appropriate angle to comfortably accommodate his length. Once she'd moulded obediently beneath his direction, he retracted his hand and shifted it between them, his palm against her abdomen as his thumb stroked her hypersensitive clit. With the attention it had received in preparing her for their union, it was already on high alert and wanting. As soon as his thumb connected with it, her thighs trembled and she felt the sudden need to kick out. She didn't, but her leg's grip on his hips did constrict. With a soft sigh, he lowered his lips to where her dark nipple beckoned his call, the skin around it reddened by the intensity of its stimulation.

.

'Ladies first,' he silently promised. He knew that when he finally lost it, there would be no round two in him. He had one chance to do it right that night. He had been withholding so much since they'd arrived that when she finally came undone around him with his name on her lips, he was going to lose all he had. In earnest, the thought thrilled him. He'd never been so completely enthralled with a woman's presence, but he didn't want her to experience the same painful build up he had and not be able to give her the release she needed.

.

The task was growing difficult though. Despite how sensitive she was, there was still a pain that she couldn't ignore and he knew it was keeping her from completely enjoying their intimacies. For the sake of seeing her climax, he held back the severity of his thrusts to help avoid some of the unappealing bite.

.

The results were almost instant and her moans began to elevate blissfully again. He sealed his eyes and denied the sight of the hot mess she'd become. He was only taken higher by such a thought, but the sight of it made him strain to withhold his pleasures to see hers accommodated. His back was itching beneath the pressure of her desperation, skin obviously broken and bloodied beneath her nails. Her thighs quivered and hips bucked every time his thumb stroked her. Her nipples were hot and hard between his teeth and the pressure on his head supported that the harder he teased, the more desperately frantic her whines became.

.

'Come on, I know you're close,' he mused vaguely while wincing with the burn in his own exhausted body. He was falling apart, his heart beating too hard, too fast. He thought it was going to burst from his chest and leave him lifeless in its absence. 'Keep it together.'

.

"That- ahh-h, oh god, Laxus." His ray of hope came in the form of her needy calls and his subtle peek towards her expression assured him that tears of completion were streaking her face. He pressed a little more deeply with his thrusts, careful to fill her as he fondled her buttons. Too rough, and he would lose his progress. Too gentle, and he would fall short of her needs. The complexity of their game was exhausting him; he had never had such a hard time trying to get a girl off.

.

He pulled away from her breast and glared down at her with an impatient hiss. "Fuck, tell me what to do," he demanded haggardly. In her arousal, her core had started to contract around the already tight fit embracing his cock and it was pushing him over the edge. If she didn't see stars soon, she was going to lose her chance.

.

She looked back at him quizzically and that was all it took for him to be metaphorically smacking himself in the face. She didn't even know what he was trying to do. She'd never experienced such an incredible swell of pleasure so she didn't know how to help him help her. "Don't do this to me," he begged. "Something's missing. You've got to tell me what it is…"

.

She looked back at him breathlessly, gently shaking her head. "Laxus, I don't know what you're talking about."

.

He ground his teeth in bearing, the reflex of her pending orgasm subtly milking his cock inside her. It was mesmerising.

.

He wasn't going to make it.

.

He stifled his bitter curse, his mind already surrendering to the uncontainable well of completion pulsing inside him. Maybe he would retain some strength to see her properly satisfied, but he doubted it. She could see just as well as he could that his arms were shaking, his head reeling and lungs weak from drawing in her scent.

.

He wrapped one hand around her firm backside and jerked her close. He buried his cock deep inside her and pressed their chests tight together so that he could finish himself off on the affectionate note of her kiss. His fingers trembled with the strength they used to force himself inside her, and his next couple shudders saw his orgasm rippling through him until his gentle rock against her body was pumping her womb full of his release.

.

His head grew airy and his technique in their kiss lax as his body shuddered his completion, but just when he thought the crippling waves had left him, she was throwing her head back with a deafening howl and following suit.

.

He bore down on his elated hiss to keep from moaning her name like a bitch but the way her core convulsed and milked his cock dry inside her was almost too much to bear. If he thought he'd been dry after the first bout of climax, the sudden and unexpected jerk of his second one upon her encouragement saw him spill the entirety of it inside her.

.

His abdomen ached with the tension causing it to shudder with every eager buck of her hips beneath him clamouring desperately to milk his pleasure. When her body had grown limp with its struggles, leaving nothing but her contracting core quivering around his spent member, he dipped low for a final intimate kiss.

.

Neirah was weak and starry-eyed, mind numb with the race of curiosity trying to determine what on earth she'd just experienced. She wanted to close her eyes never to open them again, like the moment they'd just shared was so perfect that she'd never have to live for another one. At first, she was frightened, wondering if something had gone horribly awry. That was when she felt his fingers in her hair, stroking her gently as his lips fell upon hers.

.

A small tear rolled over her cheek, and after such an intense form of stimulation wracking her body's nerves, it wasn't unexpected. Quivering fingers weakly reached around him, thighs still clinging to his presence inside her. She clasped his haunches and clung to the pressure his hips had offered.

.

Her head pulsed with alarm when his hand found her abdomen, his thumb gently massaging her over-stimulated clit until her shaky body was bucking in pleasurable spasms. With the distracting pressure of his thumb, her weakened demands shed from his hips and allowed him to slide from within her. As soon as he was free, he had replaced his cock with the fingers that had broken her in.

.

She moaned into their kiss, as the slow stroke of his fingers massaged her stretched entrance. The soothing stroke caused her to sigh and arch into a touch far less abrasive than the thrusts of his erection plunging deep within her. She reached out blindly, her eyes struggling to remain open as she searched for his stability. "Laxus?"

.

The helpless act warmed him and put a weak smile on his lips. "Whose fingers do you think are inside you?" He teased, refusing the wayward soul any comfort. Noticing that she was still airy, he leant down and kissed her, allowing her fingers to find his jaw. When he pulled away she opened her eyes and spared him the slightest of grins.

.

"Jerk," she chided.

.

"Since when have you ever known me to be a nice guy?" His body ached with the possibility that her half-conscious and clumsy acts could stir another round of inconceivable pleasure in his loins. But when she reached down and pressed her hand to his to guide his touch inside her, he had to take a deep breath to settle restless nerves. "I didn't think I could get you there," he admitted warmly. He all but collapsed down on his side alongside her and slipped his thumb over her clit intermittently between strokes, delighting in the fact that he still didn't believe she had come back to him. "You sure know how to stress a guy out."

.

She rolled her head absently from side to - sleepy - side. "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," she mused softly. She forced her eyes to open over her smile. "And for once I don't-"

.

He watched her eyes widen and jaw gape in terror, the act encouraging him to throw his hand down on top of her lips to keep her silent. "I know," he assured her softly. He allowed her panicked gaze to roam a minute for comprehension before he removed his hand. "It looks worse than it is."

.

Neirah struggled to sit up, squirming towards him worrisomely. "God Laxus, what happened to your bandages? You're a mess!" She whimpered as she held her fingers to the black and blue stab in his chest as it oozed light trails of blood with its exposure.

.

"It was gettin' in the way," he admitted. He was hoping that the flush he was seeing on her skin wasn't for the guilt of all the times she'd struck him. Knowing her, though, it probably was.

.

Since their amorous activities had subsided, he didn't mind the look of sheer devotion in her eyes when it shone back his way, in fact, he might've admitted to himself that he needed it. He watched her observe herself and the smears of his blood across her chest and arm. He felt just as weak and semi-conscious as her in that moment. He wasn't used to exhausting so much effort between the sheets.

.

She puffed out a hard sigh and dropped her head, trying to focus her thoughts and respond appropriately. "Alright," she started tenderly. She threw her legs over the bedside and attempted to stand. "I think what needs to happen now is we-" Laxus was surprised that his body was able to move quickly enough to catch her as she stumbled in front of him, clearly underestimating the power of her climax and the effect it would have on her joints. "Ok, _new_ plan," she surrendered upon toppling back to the bedside in a heap between his legs. "We _crawl_ to the bath."

.

There was that sated smile she loved so much.

.

He nuzzled his way under her arm and took her up on his lap at the bedside. "Well, luckily for you, one of us has done this before."

.

She watched the ground grow distant as he climbed to his feet with her in tote, no matter how the effort made his wounds ache. He turned and looked down at her prying gaze that had caught him in a grit moment of weakness.

.

"I would have laughed so hard if you had of bit it," she sassed.

.

"I could drop you," he assured her sternly. He followed the cold statement with his gentle kiss.

.

She turned and watched past his shoulder as they crossed the room towards the bath, her brow knotted over her desperate smile. "I was worried the neighbours would get mad because of the noise," she started hopefully. "But now I'm more concerned that they will accuse us of murder."

.

He smiled down at her as he fumbled for the light of the bath with his elbow. "I guess you'd better make sure I don't bite it," he teased while meeting her playful grin with one of his own. "Tonight, at least."

.

She shook her head in slow, over-exaggerated sweeps decorated with a broad smile. "No promises, Sparky."

.

"I appreciate that you waited until after sex to call me that." He set her down on the tub ledge and let her crank the dials on the wall, her feet in the tub to test the temperature as it rushed into the tiled bath. The innocence returning to her sweet expression comforted him as she looked back at him with big glossy eyes full of life.

.

"What's a good temperature for you right now?"

.

He closed his eyes over his small smirk as he took a seat next to her and rested his forearms on his knees. His feet remained on the bathroom floor opposing where her toes danced in lazy circles in the rippling water. "Hot enough to forget that I'm a reckless idiot."

.

She giggled like she thought he was teasing and cranked up the heat in the bath. He could have said that the ache in his body was sufficient enough to want a minute of relaxation but, despite her naivety, he'd rather be blunt. He hadn't once stopped to think of the consequences that could have befallen them with their actions. Even if the mere thought of it aroused the beast clamouring inside him for superiority, there was no way for him accept that he had completely ignored precautionary clarification and left her with a belly full of seed.

.

"Hey…"

.

He turned and looked her way when she beckoned him. In response, she smiled and wrapped both her arms around one of his.

.

"Everything's going to be ok."

.

His appreciative smile faded when he was offered a second telepathic scare that night by his passionate lover. Her sentiment could have applied to a hundred different situations in their life, but she had to offer it at that particular moment. "You work in strange ways," he assured her humbly. But despite all her sweet, addictive oddities, nothing felt better than wrapping her up in his arms and holding her protectively to his aching chest.

.

She leant up and gently kissed his chin. "Screwball calls me quirky."

.

He shook his head and let his gaze wander as he smiled and recalled the first time she'd said the same thing to him over a year before. "Quirky is an understatement."

.

She blinked back at him, dark lashes dancing groggily over the gems they sought to tuck in. "But you don't care…"

.

He gently shook his head. "I love every second."


	5. Sakura Bubbles

_**Sakura Bubbles**_

* * *

.

.

He felt what he assumed was the sensation of waking, which meant at some point during his soak, he must have fallen asleep. Although he'd had the seeds of a headache sprouting in his temples when they'd decided they'd take a bath, his head felt relatively fine. He let a deep breath fill his lungs, overwhelmed when his senses were ignited by the sweet scent of Neirah's defaulting scent of sakura blossoms.

.

 _You have to stop falling asleep on me._ He could hear her say it as clear as day.

.

But she didn't.

.

He opened his eyes and looked down towards the weight pressed against his chest, and snuggled up between his legs in the neck-deep water, his little water flower slumbered beneath the copious mounds of bubbles.

.

He couldn't help but be filled with warmth as he laid his fingers against her head and swept the damp strands of hair from her slumbering features.

.

"How are you feeling?"

.

Her words startled him. He hadn't expected that she was conscious the whole time. He didn't think he'd ever seen her look so relaxed while she was awake. "Alive," he admitted gruffly. "After today, I think that's a pretty good place to start."

.

A sleepy smile curled her lips but she didn't open her eyes or raise her head from his chest. "Your chest?"

.

He actually hadn't noticed the pain that had been so devastatingly striking earlier. He was sure he couldn't have healed for the short time he'd been asleep, but he had to admit that there was certainly a sense of relief filling him. He laid his fingers against his right pectoral, pulling at the skin to see if it separated. To his surprise, it didn't.

.

"It's an infinite sky casting," she assured him tenderly. "I had read about it in the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai, but I was afraid to try it. Because the sutures don't go more than skin deep, it shouldn't affect you in any other way. They'll hold you together until morning, I should think. Hopefully, then your body will have started to heal on its own."

.

He smiled down at her and returned to combing his long fingers through her hair. "Is that why you're struggling to keep your eyes open?" He said it, but he had yet to see azure gems shine since he'd woken himself.

.

To this, Neirah emitted a low giggle and narrowly opened her eyes to stare into the bubbles engulfing their figures. "Actually, the spell wasn't overly exhausting." She reached out and swept her fingers delicately across his abdomen where Infinity Dragon's crest had replaced the fairy, the only sight her current position offered her. "This is all you."

.

He rolled his head to one side and picked a flower petal out of her hair. "Ok, I think I'm losing it."

.

Neirah weaved slightly and propped her chin on his upper arm so that it could support her furrowed pout. "Why do you say that?"

.

He twirled the petal between their gazes vacantly. "Because you're actually shedding petals."

.

Neirah laughed, however weakly. "Laxus, they're in the bath," she assured him tenderly. "The reason I smell like flowers is because I bathe in sakura oil."

.

"Huh…"

.

She chuckled. "Yeah… I make my own," she informed holding the small crystal vase in her hands. "I started when I was a child. Screwball told me I stank so I needed to take baths. My response was creating a bathing oil that would stick really well to my skin and make it possible for me to go longer between baths." She turned and looked at him with a delighted beam. "I was a sheltered child but I wasn't stupid. And for the most part, it worked; though I can't say that Screwball was happy about it." She set the bottle back on the tub side with a delighted sigh. "I've been perfecting it ever since. Now, I can't seem to go a day without a good soak."

.

"And you think me smellin' like you when we go back to camp is gonna be a good idea?"

.

Neirah groaned and sank her lips below the water level to blow bubbles. "I didn't think that far ahead."

.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," he murmured softly before placing a hard kiss on the top of her head. "And if I've gotta build the bridge outta him, so be it."

.

Neirah adjusted in his lap, her expression weighted with her obvious concerns for him. "Laxus, you shouldn't even be alive right now," she whispered bleakly. "The last thing you should do when we return tomorrow is pick a fight."

.

He shrugged his shoulders. "A little pain never killed anyone, maybe a lot of pain, but not this."

.

"You can't honestly say that this doesn't hurt."

.

"It tickles."

.

Neirah wanted to remain serious, but it was becoming difficult with how passionately he denied his state. "You're a bit of a masochist, aren't you?" The sinister little grin he offered her was toxic and made her loins ache with sexual awakening. She loved it when he smiled.

.

"Why don't you stick your finger in there and find out?"

.

Neirah watched him carefully, the intensity of her expression making him shiver. "After all we've been through, you're still going to try and hide it from me."

.

He narrowed his gaze quizzically. "I'm not hiding anything."

.

"So, you admit that you're arrogant."

.

"Wh- well I mean, sometimes I talk shit, but that-"

.

Neirah lurched forwards into his presence, forcing him against the tub wall with no further escape from her intensity. "Tell. me. the. truth," she demanded. Despite her own guilt from withholding information on his condition from him, she was unwavering in the heat of her approach. "If I removed those stitches and did as you suggested, how badly would it hurt you?"

.

He nearly choked on his swallow. She had gone from snuggle bunny to batshit crazy in less than a minute and he couldn't figure out why that terrifying thought turned him on. "It wouldn-"

.

"The _truth_ , Laxus."

.

"I'd bleed," he admitted ambiguously. "I'm still human, after all." He wasn't sure if that was the right answer because bringing up humanity just seemed to set his feisty little woman right off. He could see it in the dangerous flash of her eyes, and as he was captured by their shift, his blood chilled to observe the soft blue waves rolling tremulously into golden breaks. Soon, she stared back at him with hot amber eyes, reptilian in shape and intensity.

.

His chest started to ache as he watched her climb to her feet, but he was thankful she had looked away from him. He hated those eyes, the eyes that came to him with no memory of his existence months before. It reminded him of the power his sweet flower possessed and that _did_ terrify him.

.

He spared her a glance as she closed her eyes and put her arms out at her sides, unsure of what her beautiful naked body was attempting. "N-Neirah?" He tipped his jaw to the side with a stifled curse. He hated how pathetic he sounded when he was in the midst of the wizard the countryside had given the title of Infinite Empress. He had seen a lot of powerful wizards in his day, but something about her scared him. It was the unknown. Something about her wasn't like the rest of them, he'd known that for a long time. It was the same woman, the same frail and petite cult child, that had been capable of making his grandfather wary of her presence. He hadn't seen his grandfather so shook up since they'd first met face to ugly face with the black dragon.

.

And that absolutely terrified him.

.

"Wanna tell me what's going on?" Laxus suggestion was growing sterner as he tried to remind himself that even if suspicions about her ran thick with speculation, she had never done him wrong.

.

"You've been poisoned." Her assurance was brisk and she refused to open her eyes as she meditated.

.

He flinched, not only with the impact of her statement but at the fact that the air subtly started to move around them. "Poisoned? What, when? How do you know?"

.

"It's not the type of poison that makes you feverish and ill, not like any I've encountered before. But something put inside you from Zade's blade is keeping you from healing." Her brow creased worrisomely. "Your wound is actually getting bigger, not smaller. Soon, it won't be able to contain the air you breathe."

.

He wanted to offer her sentiment worry, especially if what she was saying was true. That being said, it was hard as hell to concentrate on the thought of his life fading by the minute when her body stood naked and oiled at his feet. He straightened against the tub ledge like he thought he might climb out, a notion soon detoured by the little toes she rose and thrust down onto his chest to keep him still. "Stay," she demanded. "We don't need any more blood in the room."

.

He watched petals and bubbles absently circle her with her concentration, still unsure of what was to come, but that was before he watched her tanned skin dot with bright silvery scales. It wasn't the same shade of reflective scales that mimicked her brother's iron dragon force, and they only covered part of her skin, not her entire body. These ones reflected a soft salmon shade that blended beautifully with the bubbles and blossoms reflecting on their surface, but he was no artist. "Yes, ma'am," he muttered grimly before diverting his gaze. It didn't mean he couldn't appreciate fine art.

.

Neirah's body was exhausted, not only from their battles at dawn but also from their energetic activities that night. She didn't want to tell him about his situation, not before she had counselled Arihana on it. She and Damion were members of Ghoul Knight once and served under Zade's ruthless command, they knew his brand of evil inside and out. But Laxus had proven himself time and time again to be durable, and with his conceit, she thought maybe she could help extract whatever it was ailing him before she woke up the next morning to find him already at its mercy. She had worried before, but with her heart swelling ever-more affectionately as their night progressed, she couldn't bear the thought of losing him.

.

She took a deep breath, her hair settling with the sakura petals that had taken flight with her focus. She had never entered an infinite sky dragon force before, but if she was to extract something malicious from inside him without causing him more damage than he'd already suffered, she had to have her power honed and at her disposal. It wouldn't be long before the toxin had claimed more than skin and muscle tissue. If it had reached his bones, his lungs, it might have been too late for her to stop it.

.

She settled her arms at her sides, her chest panting heavily for breath. Like she expected, maintaining a focused healing form was excruciating and she knew she wouldn't last long. It was something she had little practice with.

.

She stilled when she felt him take a hold of the foot she had pressed to the ink on his chest. She tried to retract her toes, but he jerked on them so hard she thought she might lose balance. "Laxus, what are you doing?!" She demanded impatiently.

.

He drew her toes to his lips, placing gentle kisses on the top of her dainty foot. "I can't help it…" His assurance was gentle but roughened with guilt as he slid his fingers up her calf to trail his kisses. "You're so fucking beautiful."

.

Neirah ground her teeth as his fingers slid up her thigh, his lips pressed against the inner joint of her legs. "Laxus, I'm not playing around here! I'm trying to help y-" Her words were interrupted by her gentle squeal as he slid the side of his hand right up between her soft lips. "L-Laxus…"

.

"I've lived through worse…" He whispered his words against the wet scales embedded in her skin, their mesmerising glisten calling to his kisses. He felt her flinch towards an exit, something he couldn't allow, so he swiftly forced two fingers in her recovering channel. " _You_ stay," he assured her sternly. He delighted in her moans as his breathless kisses continued to explore. "Just for a bit…"

.

Neirah ground her teeth, her already strained heartbeat racing more intensely. "Please don't do this," she begged. She was desperate to save her strength for the operation at hand.

.

"Just shut up and let me enjoy this for a minute. It's not an everyday thing," he scolded impatiently. "And I've noticed something about you when you power up like this. It's like you drop your guard or somethin' right before it happens, and the whole room pulses with power."

.

Her cheeks flushed beneath the dotting of her scales and she stared at him through one burning amber eye. "Laxus…"

.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets," he whispered moments before parting her tight slit with his tongue.

.

Neirah cried out with the sudden ripples of pleasure coursing through her and she reached down to clasp his head as her thighs were left trembling weakly all over again. Her body was left far too sensitive from their love-making no more than an hour before. Her fingers grew tight in his hair as he sucked at her swollen pink bundle of nerves in time with the pump of his fingers.

.

He wrapped his second hand around her hips and sank his fingers into her soft backside, pressing her hips into his face as he licked her.

.

Old habits died hard.

.

It was always thrilling to be standing around her when she decided to get serious. He didn't understand how she was able to conceal a power level that might very well surpass his own. The thought made him tremble with excitement as he gently brushed his fingertips over the scales shimmering on her abdomen.

.

His knees started to ache against the tub's tile and the heatwave coming off their once intimate bath was forcing him to thirst and sweat like a parched hound in a desert. He may as well have been panting like one as he nipped and teased her tender flesh. He respired a gasping sigh against her abdomen before burying his face aggressively against her sweet mound for a deeper indulgence. He wished he could feel it again, the utterly devastating shockwave of power rippling through the area at her command. He drew his second hand over her thigh and buckled her knee. It took all he had to keep the surprised woman upright as he laid the knee on his shoulder and plunged his tongue inside her.

.

Her screams were growing more intense as she tried to remain productive with thoughts he was eagerly trying to numb. When she had settled stably against him again, he freed up one of his hands and wrapped it around an erection he had no place having.

.

His roots burned beneath her anxious jerks and realising that she'd finally given into his hunger, he stopped supporting her and returned his fingers to their deep plunge inside the tight confines of her body in search of a sensitive place inside that would see her crippled with pleasure for sure. His exploration was thorough and, if he had to admit, not as gentle as he could have been. His lust for her was insatiable and she had already aroused him by simply standing naked before him with a dangerous look in her eyes. Even if he couldn't bring them together for a round of aggressive lovemaking on her strict schedule, he could at least see them both satisfied.

.

His grip on his cock was suffocating as he smoothed his aching palm over his shaft and it grew tighter still when he brushed his fingers over just the right dwelling inside her that had her wails of ecstasy piercing in a volume he hadn't managed to chase out of her earlier. He revisited a similar stroke and repeated the results, a fierce growl rattling his chest.

.

He tore his lips from her clit and hissed out a deep breath. "That's what you need," he growled through his teeth. The pump of his hand on his oiled shaft increased with his own sexual tension. His thighs ached beneath him as he slipped his tongue back between her thighs and sucked her roughly, his fingers grinding down on the spot inside her that made her wail. All the while, her desperate screeches filling his senses with eager arousal, he choked his own release from inside his rigid member wishing that he could feel her around him when the pressure released inside her and she came undone.

.

And she did.

.

His nose ached when she bucked against him and clutched his face tightly against her while she rode out an orgasm that made her first look like a family-friendly experience. It took him a while to get his tongue back, but finally, he was able to retract it behind a satisfied grin. He had certainly found a decent amount of relief in the spill of his release in the warm water, but something told him that maybe she hadn't been so relieved.

.

His ragged breath was captured when she withdrew her foot from over his shoulder and thrust it out into his throat until his skull had cracked up against the tile of the bath at his back. Her gaze was fierce as she glared back at him from beneath soaking bangs, twisting her foot until his hands were around her ankle and trying desperately to remove it. "Does your life mean nothing to you?!" She roared furiously, showing no mercy to the man who so willingly gave her his heart that night. "You're _dying_ , Laxus! And I don't know if I have the power to save you!"

.

He could feel the fire stirring in his loins all over again; that look, that body, that commanding tone in her voice. But he couldn't stop fighting her. "Then it looks like I'll die a happy man."

.

Neirah's gaze flashed impatiently as he laid his fingers along the arch of her foot, the strong stroke of his thumb sending crippling waves of energy straight to her tremoring core. With a frustrated cry, she threw her hand out and did something she wasn't even aware she was strong enough to attempt yet.

.

Laxus hissed bitterly as his arms were removed from his control and nailed to the bathroom tiles beneath thick iron straps. He winced, the shattering of the tile beneath her restraint cutting into the back of his wrists as he gave a calculating jerk. "And Baby Blacksteel shows her true colours," he instigated. "If you think that I can't fight my way out of this, you've got another thing comin', Princess."

.

Laxus caught his next breath as she squatted down between his thighs and took a fierce hold of his jaw. "I swear to infinity the next one will be over your face," she hissed. She released her rough hold on him in a manner that the claws she retained in her sky dragon force bit into his cheek. "I was going to try and be gentle, but now I don't know how much longer I have before I run out of time."

.

His shoulder's flexed behind him as he pulled himself up by his wrists, managing to get his face closer to hers. "Well, you better do what you're gonna do and let me go because this is way too fucking hot to take lying down."

.

Neirah seethed with fury, but that was nothing new. He always knew just how to push her buttons, he had since they'd met. What frustrated her the most though was that she was starting to like it. She wanted to indulge him more.

.

But she couldn't this time.

.

She had to be the one to keep her cool, she couldn't let him play her. "Hold still," she spat from behind ground teeth. "This is probably going to hurt."

.

 _In fact, I think I might just make sure it does._

.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to get thoughts of him out of her head for her delicate operation afoot. The problem was the rock-hard presence of his arousal brushing against her thighs as she knelt close to him. She could hear his light groan as her stitches from before vanished in a rather harsh breath, and like she'd expected, they hadn't healed him in the slightest; simply bound flesh to keep his insides from falling out.

.

The grunt of pain probably came from the fact that in releasing, his flesh had torn just a little further than it had been before she had tried to hold the skin together, allowing fresh blood to bead on his skin.

.

The slice in his bruised flesh had almost breached so widely that she could see what lied beneath his chest and the sight made her stomach churn. Under careful examination though, she confirmed her earlier suspicion. What had appeared to be the bruising on his pectoral was, in fact, dark veins showing through his swollen skin, and beneath her sutures, was clear of the taint. It was the poison spreading and taking his skin's elasticity with it.

.

Zade had put his sword almost through the centre of Laxus' chest. She had managed to heal the lung he'd pierced earlier that day, but her concern now was the mysterious venom (or magic) on the blade's hilt attempting to reach his vital organs. It wouldn't be long until his heart had been affected. She suspected that he could have cast a black taint on the wound upon his retreat in battle with Laxus. The Ghoul Knight was not without his wiles and unlike the previous cult supporters they'd had to face, he didn't waste time dispatching his enemies. It was possible that Zade intended on rotting them from the inside out.

.

"I need to extract whatever this is from inside you," she warned him nervously. "If I can centralise my infinite castings like in combat, I might be able to at least neutralise the effect so that your body can go on with healing itself."

.

His vacant scoff boiled her blood when it met her comprehension. "Tsk, you're the doctor."

.

She lurched towards him again, one arm alongside his head as she pressed her nose to his to utter her threat. "I could kill you!" She demanded feverishly. "Laxus you've seen what this magic can do! It's why someone like me can't use it properly! I'm getting better, but a delicate operation like this takes the kind of focus most mages don't obtain in a single lifetime!"

.

His confidence in her didn't waver and neither did the look of conviction on his face. "Then you'd better kiss me, just in case." He wished he could lace his fingers in her hair to drag her into his encouragement during the heat of the moment, but she had made that more difficult than expected.

.

Her expression flickered hopelessly for a moment before desperation stole her and she cupped his face in both hands as she embraced a strong and furious kiss.

.

He melted beneath her. The pain seemed so far away, just having her near. He wasn't afraid, not of death, or the pain, not of her forced hands taking his life. He believed in her, knew her strengths first hand, even if she couldn't believe in herself.

.

He strained against his body's restrained limits, his eyes lingering shut a moment as she pulled away from their kiss. "Why does that always have to end?" He muttered his words weakly, reluctantly opening his eyes to observe her work.

.

"I'm calling your bluff," she assured him sternly. She reached over to fiddle with the pack she'd brought into the bathroom to retrieve her bath supplies. With an exasperated expel of effort, she broke off the leather strap and shifted her gaze to him.

.

He vacantly shook his head. "You're not putting that in my mouth."

.

"It's this or iron," she fortified while shifting back between his legs. "I have to… I have to reach inside the wound. Because I can't control concentrated waves of my father's power on a magical level, I have to use it tangibly so it's effect doesn't spread and consume you."

.

"You're kidding…"

.

"I told you I'm calling your bluff," she whispered weakly upon offering him the strap. "If you don't bite down on something your head is going to ache for a week."

.

She hated the vulnerability flickering in his uncertain gaze as he parted his teeth for her offering but she couldn't look away. With a trembling sigh, she laid her forehead against his, the embrace feeling estranged when her nerves were numbed by the presence of reptilian flesh. She folded the strap over itself a couple times to make it thicker before settling it back behind his molars. "Do you want me to let your hands down?" She murmured, both hands stroking his cheeks.

.

He gently shook his head in denial.

.

She nodded bleakly in understanding. He'd need something to vent the pressure against. "This is going to sound pretentious, but try to relax," she encouraged while straddling his lap. She groaned with the presence of his arousal ever pressing. Maybe he did get off on the pain. "There's too much muscle for me to work around."

.

Laxus took a couple of deep breaths, letting the scent of sakura fill him as he waited. He felt her gently slide trembling fingers over his chest around the infected slice. She had fixed his lungs, his ribs, all that remained were the infections slowly spreading around the sword's entry. It was the only thing keeping him from healing on his own.

.

He could smell the disinfecting odour of alcohol as she coated her fingers. What ailed him might've been an infection originating magically in essence, but once she was done neutralising it, he'd still have to beat whatever remained of the battle on his own. He was already thankful for the fact that she'd double up the strap between his teeth as the hiss of the alcohol on her fingers started to fizzle around his wound.

.

Neirah blinked the sweat from her eyes as she watched her fingers enter his wound, her stomach lurching when she felt sinew shifting in agony around her fingers. It was moments after, his blood started to flow and she had to look away. She leant against him, holding his head to her breast with her free arm as the other prodded his injury. She sealed her eyes tight as she started to concentrate on the purifying presence of her infinite castings. "I'm sorry," she whispered delicately against his temple. "I have to go deep in case there's something left behind to spread."

.

He pumped his breaths out between his teeth, too much air escaping his tremoring lungs as he seethed in agony for him to force it through his nostrils. Despite the breath that avoided escaping through his nose, nostrils still flared as he ground down on the strap between his teeth and tried desperately not to roar in agony. His wrists ached against iron straps as he jerked forth against them with every turn she had to take inside his body, veins and tendons popping with the pressure he withheld. A smart-ass might've made a comment about finally knowing how _she_ felt, but he was going to be the first to admit that internally cauterising a wound was a little more pain than he found arousing.

.

The most comfort he found during the extraction was the weight of her embracing his head, forcing his face into her damp hair as she worked. He couldn't understand how someone could be so absolutely dangerous, but loving; her touch so toxic, but her embrace kind. He heard her suck back a breath as she shifted her fingers inside him, it was how he knew the pain was about to intensify and rip through him at its worst.

.

He wasn't disappointed. He could hear the grind of her claws against his sternum as she purified the tender flesh inside. He tried to curse but only ended up working his salivation through the corners of his mouth against the leather taking an imprint of his teeth. His first hacking snarl escaped him as he sealed his eyes and pressed his brow to her chest firmly enough that she had to press back to keep from toppling backwards.

.

He couldn't take the heat. It felt like she was peeling the flesh from his bones in large, bloody sheets. Death looked merciful beneath his kind lover's touch as she shifted her fingers inside him some more, twisting and weaving like she was taking sick pleasure in it.

.

She wasn't.

.

His little flower was in tears above him, he could smell them. It didn't change the way he felt as she tried desperately to spare him a grim fate. "It's working." Her bleak whisper was uttered close to his ear and so soothing that he wanted to move closer. That was until her next warning came. "I'm almost halfway there… just a little deeper."

.

His skull ached as he threw his head back against the wall behind him. 'Fuck me, halfway?!' He wanted to rip her out of him himself. Whatever he had done, whoever he had hurt, he was apologising to every single one; just in case the gods would show mercy to him for the effort.

.

Every ragged breath he sucked back made her unsteady hands fumble and he was groaning all over again. It wasn't her fault though, the heavy rise and fall of his chest was unavoidable while he was conscious to bear the pain. He didn't know how much pressure he could take before his veins burst and he bled dry right there.

.

He dropped his head, narrowly peeking out beneath his eyelids as he felt her shift and tug the plug out of the tub with her toes. His brow furrowed, constantly wincing with the wriggling of her pressure inside him. He understood why she had done it when he watched the water run red down the drain in a shade almost as dark as what must've been leaking from his chest.

.

He tipped his head back with a heavy groan. His life was in her hands. The thrill of that knowledge mixed with the lightheadedness that had come from pain and blood loss saw him slip into a state of euphoria that he knew she'd patronise if he lived for her to do so.

.

Soon, even with his eyes opened his vision was darkening and he couldn't figure out if that meant the end for him or not. He struggled to stay conscious, his jaw seized so tight around the strap that he didn't think he'd be able to retract it even if he wanted to say his goodbyes. He missed the water, the warmth, the comforting embrace and scent of flowers. Now the room was rank with blood and sweat. Every one of his senses stained with death.

.

He didn't think he was going to make it. No, he knew for a fact that he was fading. He watched time spin through his head, faded reels of memories new and old. He wasn't ready. He didn't need to see a light.

.

He had one waiting for him inches from where he sat.

.

In his next breath, the fog was lifting, the pain, fading into memory. He was feeling again, feeling Neirah's subtle shift on his lap as she fidgeted with something around her. Curious, he tried to open his eyes, but moments after he did, the pelting of water was hitting them. He recoiled and waited a moment before trying again.

.

The shower.

.

She wanted to set him free from his restraints but with the way he was thrashing against them, he was obviously still relying on them to keep him upright. She scrubbed his blood from her mortal fingers, watching it run over thighs that used to be dotted with scales. She took a steadying breath before reaching out to his ground teeth, her fingers gently working the tension out of his jaw with the help of trace amounts of non-lethal sky magic.

.

"Ok, the hard part's over." Her whisper was tender as she stroked the water from his face and removed the strap from between his bite. His sharp canines had almost torn right through the multilayered folds and the sight made her heart throb. "Laxus?" She gently wiped the mess away from his reddened mouth as he tried to stay with her. "Alright tough guy, come back to me…"

.

That's when he felt her lips covering his, no matter how lightly. He fought his exhaustion, swallowing a couple of times to remember what the sensation felt like. Then, he tried to open his eyes again.

.

It was her. She was there.

.

Tears still leaked over her cheeks with the waterfall around her as she gently stroked his hair back and encouraged him to reciprocate their kiss. He felt the need to use his hands again, wishing he could just rip the studs through the wall. But he couldn't. He didn't have that kind of fight left in him.

.

"Let me down."

.

His hoarse reply startled her when it was uttered against her kiss, but nonetheless, it was most welcome. She wasn't long in complying, steel scales covering her forearms as she tore the straps from his injured wrists and helped him reclaim their function. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologised. She caught the lurch in his torso and clutched his face to her bare chest as he immediately wrapped his arms around her. She smiled softly and retrieved them one by one, peeling them away from her skin to dab a damp cloth over the backs of his wrists. "I have no idea what that was, but infinite magic purified it," she assured him tenderly. "It's gone now…"

.

"That hurt," he admitted bleakly. He remained dull even as a snort of amusement stole her trembling expression. Instead, he spent his time reminding his fingers what tenderness felt like as he slid their tips over her soft, wet skin. "I admit, I probably deserved that."

.

Neirah wasn't thinking as she flailed her arms around and struck him by default in the chest, the broadest part of him. "Idiot! I wasn't doing it on purpose!" With the haggard choke of his pained grunt, she immediately softened her expression and clutched him delicately. "Ohmigosh I'm sorry, I forgot. Would you stop deliberately making me mad? I can be so rash."

.

Laxus parted grit teeth, his hand cupping his abused flesh to protect it from the assault of the shower above them. "Yeah, I noticed."

.

"Would you stop being so _pretentious_!" She wailed, beating her balled fists against his tattoos as she cried. "You scared me! I thought I was going to be the one to kill you, not Zade! Can't you just say thank you and be done with i-" Neirah's words were caught behind her startled squeal as he captured her and raked her into his lap.

.

"I'm grateful, I promise," he murmured hungrily against her neck. He worked his fingers against her naked rump, spreading her wide as she straddled him in the large, luxurious tub. He wished there was still water in it, helping him to move his weight around a little more comfortably. But with the blood still washing from his wound, he could agree that the shower was the more appropriate setup.

.

Neirah whimpered softly, bewildered by the feeling of his rigid cock pressed between her thighs. "You can't be serious," she nearly growled. Her cheeks flushed hot with humiliation and scepticism.

.

"Maybe I am a little masochistic."

.

Neirah fled backwards in a fit of panic as his kisses approached her naked breasts. "Don't you dare," she reprimanded. "At least let me seal your wound before you start this kind of-" She wasn't silenced, but her conclusion couldn't be articulated behind her surprised yelp.

.

His teeth came down a little harder than he had intended around her right nipple. Moderation wasn't his strong suit that moment. "Let it bleed," he encouraged. Obviously, he hadn't lost too much if he was still ready to lay her out and ravage her.

.

"Would you please cut the act," she begged as heartfeltly as possible.

.

"Not an act," he growled. His steady fingers beckoned her hips tight to his. "Just being with you, when we're like this… so fucking good. Even through the pain…"

.

"Laxus, you're talking in fragments again. You need to rest."

.

"I need _you_ ," he corrected. His narrowed gaze diverted to where he slid his thumb over her reddened nipple. The shower washed the trace amounts of blood off the back of his wrist and over the smooth skin of her breast, skin that used to be marked by a home that they were all missing as days grew bleak. He felt the weight of their actions sink into him and couldn't help but feel just a little homesick.

.

"I'm going to take you back," he assured her calmly as he continued to nurse her sensitive skin with his gentle touch. He laid his head against her heart, just holding her tight to his face. "I don't care what it takes… we're going home."

.

Neirah's heart sank as she looked down at him, the fall of the shower water started to roll clearly down the drain with the subsiding of blood flow. "Laxus you-"

.

"I don't care what the old man wants," he snarled impatiently. "I'm not gonna let you take the fall for us. If he doesn't take you back, I'm not going."

.

"Laxus, think about what you're saying-"

.

"I have." He pulled away from her and did his best to look determined as he stared back into her glassy blue eyes. "I think about it all the time. I don't know what he's afraid of, but whatever it is, it's not worth losing you." The weakness in her gaze forced him to turn away, especially if he was going to remain strong. "I can't go back to the way things were… not now… not after this."

.

Neirah captured his face and drew his gaze back to where she offered him an appreciative smile. "You're a brute," she teased tenderly. She placed a gentle kiss on his nose. "But sometimes you manage to say the sweetest things."

.

"I wish I could do better…" He dropped his sheepish gaze. "You deserve better."

.

She gently shook her head. "I don't deserve what you've already given me."

.

He gently nuzzled her nose. "Are you really gonna kick back when I'm down?" She could hear the subtle plea in his tone as the colour started to return to his skin with his suffering subsided. "Don't get me wrong, I like that about as much as when you give me what I want, but-"

.

She answered his tender inquiry with a passionate kiss, her arms falling around his shoulders to hold him close. "I'll give you what you want on one condition," she started. Just in case that didn't get his attention, she rocked herself against his erection to ignite the nerves that saw him burning for her. "You have to promise to take it easy for a while."

.

His body shuddered with the underlying implications of her reaching down and clasping his shaft with her soft hand. The thought of her taking control of their affections was exhilarating. He hissed out a heavy sigh, the pain of offering the effort causing his chest to ache. He knew their entire conversation had seen her slowly drain herself of power to try and ease his suffering. She had almost managed to stop the bleeding entirely. The fact that she thought she was sneaky enough to get away with it caused him to smile slyly. "Are you sure you can handle takin' the lead?" He groaned with the increase of pressure around his cock, his expression eagerly sated.

.

"Promise," she reiterated sternly.

.

"Yes, ma'am."

.

The apprehensive brunette lingered, her gaze downcast as she sucked roughly on her lips. It wasn't difficult – in, out. She was sure anyone could do it. She was an exotic dancer, had been for almost a year. If anyone knew back and forth, she did, so why was she nervous? Her dainty fingers gave him a slow stroke as she contemplated her advance. She hadn't lied when she said that being with him was the most fun she'd had in a long time and the pleasure… She shuddered. But something about having him inside her again made her cringe and her tummy started to ache with dread. She didn't think that was a good sign but wasn't sure if it was necessarily bad.

.

Her core still ached over the loss of her virginity, even if he had tried to be gentle, at first. She hadn't let on, but she hadn't expected it to hurt so badly. He was right in saying that it would get better as they went, and her arousal certainly helped bring truth to his suggestion. But now that she started to ache with the healing of her insides, she didn't know if she wanted to repeat it. She didn't want to admit that she was afraid, afraid of pain caused by him when all he wanted to do was share a special bond with her. She felt absolutely rotten.

.

"Lost already?"

.

The tips of her ears coloured with her rage as she ground her teeth and seethed humiliation. "I'm sure if the likes of you can handle it, I'll be just fine."

.

Venom looked beautiful dripping from her lips. Laxus leant forward and pressed his brow to hers, a playful smirk his only defence against her. "You know, for something so innocent, it takes a hell of a lot to make you blush." He stroked the damp ends of her hair over her shoulder so that there was nothing between their skin as he slid his palm up the side of her neck and stroked her jaw. "Too bad because it's cute."

.

He wasn't wrong. For a woman who was so valiantly confident in the public eye, it was adorable to watch the way her bashful arousal changed the tone of her tanned skin. Most noticeably, the tips of her ears, the swell of her breasts, and even her tender rump, all shared the same bright flush. "And did you know that you chew your fingers when you're nervous?"

.

"I'm not chewing my fingers," she commanded.

.

His chest swelled with proud resistance to her authority. "That's because your hands are full," he teased. He kissed the corner of her mouth until she was forced to release her own lips so that she might accommodate his. "I thought you were gonna indulge me," he instigated. "Does this mean I don't have to take it easy?"

.

"Just give me a minute!"

.

The room filled with steam beneath the hiss of the hot shower and that was the only sound that broke the silence between them. She had to have been uncomfortable to snap at him so rashly. Snarky comebacks full of wit and attitude were her standard response to his mischief, but something about the way she trembled against him made him think something was wrong. "What's gonna happen in a minute?" He murmured tenderly, his brow still propped against hers.

.

Neirah sighed softly against his thumb as he slid it over her slightly parted lips to meet the others on the underside of her chin. "I-I don't know," she breathed. "It just hurt so bad… the first time. I just… it _just_ started to feel better."

.

His brow creased against hers as his gaze met the lashes hiding the tears wanting to fall from frustrated eyes. Inside, he wanted to mock her for being willing to rip a dragon out of the sky by its damn wings yet she was hesitant to bed him. On the outside, he tried to at least feign concern. "Why didn't you tell me?"

.

It startled him how quickly her lashes rose to offer him the direct gleaming fury of her eyes. It was in that one shaken moment that he may have recalled that she had. "Look at me, and now look at you," she demanded. "And tell me what you expected."

.

God, he loved the danger in her eyes.

.

He encouraged her forwards into his lap until her hand had been replaced by her tummy against his erection. "I thought we were a perfect fit."

.

His audacity made her moan. "Well, I'm glad such a _little_ body could please you."

.

His hearty groan met her neck as he splayed kisses on her shoulder. "Don't tease me if you don't have treats."

.

The further his kisses strayed, the closer she was pulled to his chest. Growing nearer, she put her hand out to encourage her distance from his wound. She had managed to slow the bleeding, but the painful swelling and irritation remained. She admitted to herself that encouraging himself to suffer to gain her affection probably wasn't a good habit to get into, but for whatever reason, his rock-hard shaft continued to disturb the chain dangling from her navel. She figured it probably would until she found a way to give him what he needed. To do that, she had to remind herself of something important.

.

He'd given her unbearable pleasure without intercourse at all.

.

"Stop," she whispered bleakly while subtly squirming out of his touch.

.

"Get brave?"

.

She sealed her eyes tight as she gathered her nerve. "If you want, we can do this with the straps again."

.

She felt his whole body tense.

.

With a gentle breath, she slipped her lips over his ear to utter a vaguely seductive warning. "You _are_ a masochist."

.

He tipped his downcast gaze to one side as he watched her descend. "You terrify me," he assured her. "I love it." His hunger grew as he watched her shimmy back beneath the shower's pulse, leaving her breath just inches from the head of his cock. The cut in her warning glare was enough to send shockwaves straight to his groin.

.

"Try not to tick me off for a bit."

.

His first urge when the flat of her tongue smoothed up the entirety of his shaft was to slam his fist into her hair and force it down her throat. By some miracle, that urge was quickly silenced. He let his open palm linger over her head for a moment, but when he saw the flash of static weaving over his fingertips, he thought it best he didn't play with water. Instead, he laid both hands against his soaking face, letting the shower's heat relieve his tension as anxious fingers raked back through his hair.

.

The knee he had raised against the tub tiles ached as he pressed his thigh tight against the wall, giving his curious little flower room to explore.

.

Know thy enemy, or something like that.

.

"It's amazing," she mewled curiously. Every man wanted to hear that at least once in his life so he didn't feel an ounce of regret as he swelled with pride, even if it was short-lived. "That this kind of pressure buildup doesn't hurt."

.

His thighs burned from the tension that kept them from jerking his hips into her mouth when it shallowly engulphed the head of his cock. "I wouldn't say it doesn't," he seethed in a bitter hiss. He thought the tiles were going to break beneath his palm as she lightly sucked the thick vein on the underside of his length with strong tongue strokes, following its trail from base to tip. His brow ached with how coarsely he sealed his eyes to deny watching her treat him like a stripper's anatomical science project.

.

"Fuck, ok if this is payback, it's harsh," he rattled heavily.

.

Neirah cocked a furrowed brow, her tongue still partially connected to his flesh when she looked back at him. "You don't like it this way?"

.

But did she have to sound so disappointed?

.

"To be fair, I'll take it any way you'll give it." Well, if that didn't sound desperate, he didn't know what did. "But if you thought that not giving me this teased more than what you're doing now? You're wrong." He let his head fall back over the tub ledge and hissed out an impatient sigh. "Fuck, so wrong." He laid one palm heavily over his brow, just to make sure he wasn't actually feverish.

.

"How would you have me do it?"

.

There were those shockwaves, straight to her lips.

.

He lifted his hand and looked down at her. "Frankly, by turning around and bending over."

.

"Mhm, let's pretend I know what that means and get serious." She could see his breath escaping beneath the water, or she imagined she could, at least.

.

"You're too…" How to say it _without_ sounding like a prick. "Gentle."

.

The condescension was thick in her gaze as she glared back at him. "Laxus, you're really overplaying the 'hit me' card."

.

"Not what I meant," he ascertained sternly upon straightening himself once more. It wasn't that he was going to complain if she felt like getting _that_ rough with him. He wrapped one hand around hers and squeezed until she was whimpering with the crushing of her fingers.

.

"Ow! Laxus-!"

.

He let his pleasured hiss seep silently from inside him and encouraged her to continue with what she was doing. "Trust me, when I do it, I'm not so gentle."

.

"You do this often?"

.

"More often than you."

.

Neirah snorted delicately and maintained the strength he'd encouraged in her grip. "Something tells me I at least have something on you."

.

"That is?" The tension was returning to his body as she slipped her tongue in strong, lazy circles around his engorged member. His breath, so deeply clenched by his lungs, choked his words until he'd grown closer to squeaking than he had in his entire life. "Point."

.

Masochism aside, he liked his touch a litter rougher, that didn't surprise her. With the strength he was used to, he'd obviously grown desensitised to mild stroking. It seemed what made him sweat were the touches too tender for him to receive on a regular basis and the ones that made him bleed.

.

She could work between those lines.

.

After giving it some thought, she realised that there was no way she'd fit the entirety of his shaft in her mouth. Fortunately, she'd come up with a pretty good idea of what she was going to do with the rest of his length. She smothered her breasts against the tile, her firm backside thrust high into the air as she slid him into her mouth. The elated sigh to slink past his teeth encouraged her to explore the pressure in which her tongue circled swollen flesh.

.

His touch was sudden as it embraced her. His palm was gentle as it engulphed the back of her head, but she could feel the trigger tight tension in his fingers. Listening to his silent plea, rather than releasing him from her mouth, she deepened her strokes.

.

His head hit the tiles at his back again, and far less gently than the first time. He parted his lips to utter the articulation of the sensations crashing into him, but he quickly silenced himself with a gasping breath so not to stain her virgin ears with his vulgarity. As always, she was eager to please. 'You… and me… are going to have a lot of fun once I break you in…' It sounded so good in his head that he had to groan, his fingers unintentionally tightening in the strands of her hair.

.

Charm went out the window when his stern encouragement forced a tiny moan to escape her around her mouthful of his flesh, a fit tight enough that he felt every tender vibration through to his core. He didn't know how she managed to escape his steeling grasp, and if he'd found out she had used her elusive shadow magic to ghost through his hand he was going to gag her with his need.

.

"Better?"

.

So eloquent.

.

He collapsed his hand back on the top of her head and forced her down on him all over. "Yes, now don't fucking stop." He could practically feel her mocking him as 'needy' with her gentle purr.

.

His jaw parted to accommodate his panting breaths and he was thankful that the shower's spray was just out of reach. The last thing he needed to do was drown before he was relieved of the tension her innocence managed to stir within him.

.

His abdomen quivered, the tickle of her nails biting into his inner thigh taking warmup into overtime. He felt like he had a short fuse with her which made him realise that he'd found a woman he'd wanted to impress. Everytime she looked up at him with bright eyes full of admiration, he never felt like he deserved it. He felt weak, like something inside him was always ready to burst.

.

His heart. His head -

.

He cursed bitterly, wishing he'd never looked down to see her sated gaze looking back at him. He didn't care that she whimpered in surprise when he jolted her head down along his shaft with the rush of his release escaping to the back of her throat, and he didn't have his eyes open to see the surge of electricity flash in place of the satisfied growl he was eager to offer. The bite of her nails against his thighs mixed with her drowned moans made his hips buck, forcing her to swallow an extra couple inches.

.

He didn't think he'd had any life left in him after he crashed from his high, but that was when that extra couple of inches was caught in the back of her throat as it closed around the fluid choking her.

.

Complete and utter bliss.

.

Neirah withdrew her head from between his legs and wrinkled her nose over her soft gag, her face oozing his satisfaction. Her tongue smacked a couple of times as she tried to make an opinion on the experience. She didn't find it the most delightful, but not entirely grotesque.

.

Why he watched her and risked having to rub out another painfully satisfying release was beyond his comprehension at that particular moment.

.

She raised spread fingers to her face and helped the shower cleanse it before looking back at him from between them. "You have control issues."

.

He probably shouldn't have been surprised that the first thing she wanted to do was patronise him. In an effort to conceal the glitter of sparks still raising the hair on his forearms, he folded his offending fingers slowly behind his head.

.

Passionate men don't lie.

.

Neirah giggled softly as she spied a rosy flush in his cheekbones. "It's a good thing I have partial immunity to lightning."

.

"Little lightning," he razzed back.

.

"I thought you weren't going to call it little anymore?" Neirah's playful expression faded when she saw the immediate hurt on his face like he'd just been reminded of the gravest truths. She felt terrible for bringing up the painfully fresh memories and after turning off the lukewarm water of their shower, she slithered up against his chest and snuggled her head up beneath his chin like a feline. "I'm sorry," came her bleak whisper.

.

He reclaimed a comfortable angle for his head and gently kissed the top of her wet crown. "Not what you say after gettin' a guy off," he teased. "But you'll get it…"

.

"Not what I meant," she reprimanded gently.

.

"I know what you meant…" He smiled, letting his arms collapse around her frail figure with his contented weakness. "Thanks for not turning the water to cold."

.

She giggled. She may have been new, but even she knew what was meant by a 'cold shower'. "You can't honestly still be hungry."

.

He thought it was adorable that that's what she was calling his arousal since their entanglement. "I dunno, with you so close and wet agai-" He groaned deeply and buried his frisky smile in her hair, lowering his tone to a raspy whisper. "Mn, I shouldn't have said anything."

.

"Don't tease!" Neirah scolded through a joyful beam. "We've wasted hours with this, now as promised, you need to get some rest!"

.

"I promised to take it eas-"

.

"Laxus!"

.

"Damn, you get me hot…"

.

Neirah's brow furrowed over a sad looking smile. "Why did it take us so long?"

.

He watched the water bead over her dark skin, eyes glowing with an unconditional look of adoration in the empty and quiet bath. It was what made him fall for her over a year ago. It made him fall harder every time. That anyone could look at him that way made his heart race.

.

He dusted his fingertips over the swell of her rosy cheek, sweeping her wet tresses from her skin. "Because we're both idiots," he whispered sincerely. He encouraged their lips to gently meet for a brief peck.

.

"Do you think it will last the night?" She mewled gently, content remaining in an empty bathtub soaking wet with him for the rest of the night. It was the only way she didn't have to face the uncertainty of what tomorrow would mean for them. "You know we've come close before, only to want to kill each other when the sun comes up."

.

"If I wake up next to you tomorrow morning and I hate you, I'll kill myself." The unresolved sexual tension had more than been relieved. He knew that there was nothing to hold them back anymore; except, maybe a bloodthirsty big brother Blacksteel. Another bridge to cross. With his best attempt at a gentle smile, he took her chin in his hand and raised her gaze to his. "It'll be ok though, right?"

.

She looked back at him with a well of affection in her glossing eyes. "Right," she breathed airily. Even through their pain and exhaustion, they still managed to give each other a hard time. She choked on her laughter for a moment, trying to weigh whether or not it was appropriate in the tender moment, but after thinking about how bizarre an innocent grocery trip had become, she let her delighted giggles fill the room while she squirmed in his arms.

.

"I do have one concern," he admitted bleakly atop her head. He smiled to himself against her hair as he finished his sentiment. "I hope to hell you brought a toothbrush."


	6. Hold onto the Night

_**Hold onto the Night**_

* * *

.

.

Laxus ground his teeth over his muffled curse, his upturned forearm flexing as he closed his hand into a tight fist. He was relieved that the stinging open wound on his chest was about to be patched but he really could have used something to numb the nerves coming to life beneath her healing touch.

.

"Would you like your bit back, Stud?"

.

He cut his narrowed gaze to the woman who was carefully threading a line through the swollen edges of his wound. "You'll get yours, woman."

.

Neirah pinched her needle between her thumb and forefinger as she drew her hands back and wiggled them with feigned concern. "Ooo, I'm shaking." Although, she had to admit that when the danger in his narrowed gaze cut back to her, it did cause her a rather conspicuous chill.

.

Laxus hunched, his abdomen withdrawing and his fingers grasping tensely in the air as her fingers connected with him again. Since she'd removed whatever was inside him, he'd been hit with a wall of fatigue. The area around his stab wound was starting to bruise and he knew from his temperature that a fever was running him down. His body was finally starting to recognise his injuries and he hoped it was a sign that he was ready to start healing.

.

"Hold still," she gently chided. She lined up the next stitch she'd weave into his flesh. "This is hard enough to do without you fussing."

.

"Here. Give _me_ the fucking needle to stick into _you_ and we'll see how you like it." He hissed when she popped the steel through his skin swiftly, the slow drag of her line causing her own skin to crawl.

.

"What's the matter, Prince? I thought you liked the pain."

.

Laxus stared vacantly forward as she worked, one wrist hitched on his knee to tense and relax with the draw of her thread. "It's not the pain that gets me." He didn't bother to face her when she laid her twine between her lips and adjusted her needle's position with a curious look in her eyes. "It's what goes on in my head when I hurt."

.

Neirah smeared the bloody little bubble-ups away from where she was laying her next stitch and pressed his skin together. "Like what?"

.

He rolled his gaze lazily towards her before returning it to its void. "It's different every time," he murmured. Knowing full well that she wouldn't accept such a vague answer, he continued. "Earlier, it was the fact that it was you."

.  
"Me causing you pain?"

.

"You trying to fix me." He smirked guilt and closed his eyes. "Sure, it hurt, but knowing that you'd go all that way to try and keep me around, it does somethin' to a guy."

.

"To you, at least."

.

"I know it wasn't easy for you," he admitted quietly. "You're kind of squeamish."

.

"I kept dinner down, that's all that matters," she added with a stifled giggle. "And now I've got a big strong, not-dying beastie to protect me from all the nightmares I'm gonna have."

.

He smiled as she patted his chest gleefully and he reached out to stroke her hair from where it hindered her view of her objective.

.

"Sank yuh." She released the twine and popped another swift stitch into his wound. "So, what other kinds of things go through your head? You made it sound like that wasn't the only one."

.

Sometimes it frustrated him, how easily she pried conversation past defiant lips. "Sometimes, just thinkin' that a little thing like you can break me down, that does somethin' too."

.

Neirah snickered perceptively. "Something alright," she teased. "I never took you as a submissive man."

.

"Don't push it," he snapped. "I don't know if there's a guy out there who doesn't like a girl who can take care of themselves. I guess I just never had time for the damsel so I found myself a woman who could kick the dragon's ass herself."

.

She smiled back at him, humbled by his sentiment.

.

He grinned to himself as he continued to stare over her shoulder. "I guess something else that got me was how… how proud I am. Of you." He ground his teeth, another bitter curse muffled by his groans as she stuck him again. "The things you can do… how strong that scared little girl got over the years." His chest swelled with just that, pride. "Yeah, I can get high off that."

.

Neirah smiled solemnly as she snipped his last stitch and ran her fingers over her effort with a disinfecting cloth. "Well, I'm glad I can make someone proud," she whispered bleakly. She knew well that her mother and father were gone, and that she would never hear them say the same.

.

Noticing he'd struck a nerve, he tried to alter the course of their conversation. "Who taught you how to piece people back together?" He laid his own fingers on his chest and poked gently at the bruising colouring it. He didn't know why, but the way the sensitive ache felt comforted him. He knew he was finally free of the poison to hold him back, thanks to his little hero.

.

Her smile remained dismal as she started packing up her medical supplies. "Kairyn." She could almost feel him tense at her back when she spoke the late dragon slayer's name. "When I was growing up with Gajeel, I was allowed to be a dorky child and rely on my brother for almost everything." She turned to face Laxus earnestly. "Kairyn saw that as a weakness, and one that I had clung to once my brother was returned to me. He wanted it bred out of his Infinite Empress pronto."

.

Laxus braced both elbows on his knees as he sat at the bedside, watching her knelt figure dig up some gauze on the floor. "What was going on between you guys anyway?" He hoped that they had reached a point where it wasn't in bad taste to openly resent the presence of a man he'd never seen eye to eye with. He couldn't say that he had been very forgiving during the man's passing, even if his sacrifice was meant to shield Laxus himself. He had never asked for Kairyn's help. Neirah… had never asked for his help. Instead, Kairyn had taken her away with monotonous claims and the promise of a bleak destiny. All Laxus wanted was to see her where she rightfully belonged, and he supposed, a part of him was a little jealous when Kairyn denied that it was with Fairy Tail.

.

"He was Infinity Dragon's first master," she whispered. "Ever since he'd gotten here from Edolas, he'd taken Ryverika's will as the word of a god. He fought a lot for him, and for me. He tried to end this fight before I ever had to take his place. For that, I should have been grateful."

.

"That doesn't explain why he hated me so bad," Laxus rumbled. He shifted his hands to drape around her as she scootched between his legs with her bandaging. He liked to tease himself with thoughts that Neirah had confessed her love for him to Kairyn long before his passing, but something told him that the only reason Kairyn uttered the words he did when he died was because he was far more perceptive than they had ever been. "The couple times he hunted me down in Magnolia he seemed pretty keen on playing the alpha."

.

"Ooo, that must've been a sight," she cooed friskily. She dusted her hand gently over his bruising and was delighted that he seemed to be healing better since his cleansing. "I certainly doubt you rolled over for that."

.

"Not the point... _But like hell_."

.

Neirah smiled as she wrapped her arms and bandages around his waist, raising her hands to begin her work. "Ryverika gave his life with an attempt to spare yours. Kairyn never thought it was worth it."

.

" _I_ don't think it was worth it."

.

"Well, we've all seen how dear you hold your life," she sassed. "The point was, for someone who saw Ryverika as a god, obviously he would be put out with the man whose presence saw him to the other side."

.

Laxus reached out and touched his fingers to the side of her face. "You know if I had any idea-"

.

She chuckled softly and shooed away his concern. "Laxus, Ryverika was a dragon. And not just any dragon, the Golden Dragon Divine. His feud with Acnologia preceded our existence. He shouldn't have fought when he was in such poor condition."

.

His touch was diverted from her face, but he kept his fingers in her hair as his smile budded. "You really have grown up this past year."

.

She smiled back at him bashfully as she let their gazes meet. "Quit talking like I'm a child," she murmured dryly. "I'm only a few years younger than you."

.

"Plus seven."

.

"Fate works in mysterious ways," she teased. "Please don't make this weird."

.

Laxus reached down and wrapped his arms around her waist. As a result, she draped her arms around his neck and allowed him to pick her off the floor to sit on his lap. "If this was fate, you wouldn't've taken so long to let me in," he rumbled mischievously against her neck.

.

"You don't know that," she whispered playfully. "It's fate. It can do whatever it wants."

.

"Even take its damn time?"

.

"Good things come to those who wait," she chimed. "Am I a good thing?"

.

"So good I couldn't wait any longer." He let his kisses trail along her collar. "Let me worship your crazy philosophies."

.

"Laxus, philosophies aren't synonymous with my body."

.

He rolled her onto her back beneath him, his low growl barely perceptible over her giddy laughter. He loved it when her satiny mass of hair splayed out beneath her like a paper fan. He reached out and picked a couple of cherry blossom petals from where the bath had tangled them among the strands. "I can do both," he assured her tenderly. He drew a few of her scented locks to his lips before letting the petals slip to the comforter beneath them with the cascading auburn tresses.

.

There was a soft hitch in his breath as she reached up and captured his face mid-indulgence. She redirected his attention, her cobalt eyes weighted with sadness as she smiled meekly back at him. "I was so afraid," she whispered delicately. "I couldn't bear the thought… of losing you."

.

He lingered for a long moment before a humble smile was curling his lips. "Come on, it wouldn't be that bad," he reassured her. "You'd still have that jerk of a brother and that ratty old stuffed cat."

.

Another solemn knot creased her brow in disdain. She hated to hear how poor his opinion was of himself, so poor that he would value his life equally to a stuffed toy. He had made mistakes, and they haunted him so fervently that he had lost his own self-worth. "What if I asked you to live for me?" Her whisper was soft and exhilarated. "Would it… be reason enough for you to fight? To survive?"

.

Her tender words hurt and healed him in the same agonising breath so instead of wasting it with a fumbling rebuttal, he slowly leant into her and joined their lips in a slow, tender kiss that he didn't expect to last as long as it did. When they parted, he dusted his brow against hers and closed his eyes. "Why do you think I'm still here?"

.

Neirah smiled bashfully and gently ran her fingers over the chest she'd just spent the better part of an hour repairing. "It's probably going to leave a scar," she hinted towards an apology. It was too intense for them to grow so intimate just yet. It still frightened her to think that she'd found love. She had to avoid such tenderness for a little while longer. "I'm not as good with this kind of thing as Arihana."

.

"I'd rather a scar by your hands than the touch of anyone else's."

.

Neirah flinched in utter bewilderment, completely taken back by his sincerity. "Wow, Prince, that was almost poetic."

.

"I really do try." His admittance was sheepish as he diverted his attention, a hopeless grin on his lips. "But really, it wouldn't be my first, and I doubt it'll be my last."

.

"They carry such painful memories… scars." She drew his gaze forth again. "How can you be so acceptant of them?"

.

"They remind me what I've lived through, what I'll keep pushing through to protect the people close to me," he assured her quietly. She immediately tensed as he circled back to the topic she was trying to avoid. "One, a hundred, it doesn't matter if there's no one left to notice em'."

.

"When you say it like that it makes me jealous that I don't have any." Her coo was gentle as she traced her fingers over the scar on his face. She thought about bringing up the permanent ink tattooed just beneath each eye, but there was nothing noble about the receiving of them. Those scars held no weight of her effort to conceal their infection upon her life. If anything, they simply reminded her that her past was the reason other people bled around her. People like him.

.

"Don't be. I like you just the way you are." His heavy gaze followed delicate fingertips as he brushed them over the swells of her skin. "Flawless… protected."

.

Neirah sighed in her blissful state of contentment. "But sometimes I wonder if anyone I love really realises what I'd give to protect them," she admitted bleakly. Her hands swept back through his hair as he started to descend her body with feathery kisses. "My past… the dark cloud that follows me. They still don't understand that I don't want to see anyone else die for the legacy I inherited. The guild… Fairy Tail… they see my departure as a betrayal. Not for what it really is."

.

Laxus sighed blissfully against her navel. "That's because the idiots think there isn't anything they can't fix when they bash a bunch of empty heads together."

.

"Laxus, don't be mean."

.

"Well? It's true," he mumbled while ascending her lean figure once again. "They don't get that there are just some things that Natsu can't burn. You know I miss it like crazy, but they get old real quick. It's damn refreshing to be around someone who takes things seriously for a change. You can't always save the world with niceness."

.

Neirah reached out and clasped his face between her hands in silent reminder. "There will be some things that even you can't protect me from."

.

"Like you couldn't protect me from what happened this morning?" He reached down and placed a gentle kiss on the bridge of her nose. "It's the fairy in us that doesn't stop us from trying."

.

Neirah's smile broadly illuminated her face. "I guess that's what it means, to be a team," she purred gently. "Heaven's Rain." Her gentle murmur was certain as she watched intrigue fill his previously contented expression. "That should be our duo's name."

.

"Don't let Mira hear you say that. She really liked Team Lightning."

.

Neirah smiled as she recalled the day Mirajane had announced the birth of Team Lightning. There was giddy excitement in her voice like she'd just succeeded in planning matrimony. She felt that Mira had always had a real talent for matchmaking and she had been capable of seeing the seeds of romance between the two before they did. "But I don't just use lightning magic," Neirah supported. "My core is divinity and judgment. The other elements I can manipulate are only cheap imitations compared to the power the other dragon slayers can use to wield them. Lightning rains down from the heavens where the divine reside, so Heaven's Rain should be our name whether Mira likes it or not."

.

"Yeah, but she's kinda sensitive about those kinds of things," Laxus mused. "We'll wait a bit to bust that one on her once we get home."

.

Neirah's smile faltered with his assurance. "You still consider it home?"

.

Laxus looked at her before diverting his attention with bashful heat in his cheeks. "Well, I did grow up in that crappy town, in that ridiculous excuse for a guild."

.

Neirah smiled, knowing by his tone and the way his expression softened that their place in Fairy Tail only brought back warmth to him during their time away.

.

"But it's weird… I've been all over the place and I always end up goin' back," he admitted humbly. "And on the off chance I ever look at what my future might be like, I can't see myself bein' anywhere else."

.

Neirah kept her gaze locked with his as she reached out and smoothed her palm over the Infinity Dragon crest on his abdomen. "You're right," she whispered. "As tough as you are, the dragon doesn't suit you nearly as well as your old guild mark."

.

He sighed and drew his lips to hers, his palm inching up her outer thigh until his thumb was caressing the ebony lines of the matching dragon near her hip. "And next time I go back, you're comin' with me." He dropped his affectionate kisses to her left breast, the bare skin over her heart that only had a place for Fairy Tail's wings. "It's not optional…"

.

"It's kind of adorable," she whispered sinisterly. "In all our strengths… we may be dragons in spirit, but faeries at heart."

.

"I'm homesick," he admitted bleakly upon laying his head down on her left breast. He sealed his eyes tight and drew in her comforting scent to try and calm his nostalgia. "I'm so sick of people stirring up shit and dragging us into it."

.

Neirah gently combed her fingers through his hair while he listened to her steady heartbeat. "I'm the one they want," she whispered. "You could go visit the guild if you really wan-"

.

"W'part of not optional didn't you understand," he growled. "I go, you go. That's it."

.

"Go back to being cute," she scolded.

.

"Yes, ma'am…"

.

Her brow creased with her vexation. "I don't want to talk about it tonight. About Zade, Marionette or Ghoul Knight. How deep my past seems to suck me in only to get darker."

.

"You'd think they'd know that dragons don't belong around here anymore."

.

Neirah's heart stopped, her breath trembling as she expelled it in utter mortification.

.

"But if they do manage to resurrect the shadow of that old lizard, I promise you we'll put him back where he belongs."

.

Neirah's heart hurt as she thought about his statement. She knew he didn't mean anything by it, and he certainly didn't know the truth she concealed. "Laxus? Do you… have any idea why Karua was unsuccessful in using me as a host for Ryverika over a year ago?"

.

He shook his head. "Never really thought about it, why?"

.

Neirah sighed with subtle relief. "No reason…" Luckily for the distracted woman, she was being offered her conversational escape in the boldest of ways. She looked down to where a growling tummy reminded her that her lover still hadn't eaten yet and a stifled giggled filled her lungs. "Hungry, Prince?"

.

Laxus shook his head, clearly denying what his stomach articulated as the truth. Luckily, with his angle against her breast, she couldn't see his embarrassed blush. "Too comfortable for food."

.

There was a short silence broken between them by a second grumble.

.

"Damn it…"

.

Neirah laughed as she picked his head from her chest and set him face down on the bed, his groan of disapproval muffled by the sheets as his outstretched fingers twitched emptily. "Luckily for you, I went out and grabbed a bite to eat while you were napping earlier. I hope you like takeout."

.

Laxus' nostrils flared as she cracked the top of her takeout container, his submission to his body's desires complete when he tipped his head to the side and peered at her through one open eye. "I smell chicken…"

.

"Probably taste's like that too." She ignited her fists in subtle flame to heat the foil tray beneath her hands. "Please don't tell Natsu I did this," she pleaded with a giddy chuckle. "He'll probably say something stupid about using his powers for bitch-work." She looked over her shoulder to where Laxus, and a pillow, had wormed just a little closer.

.

"That's all his magic is good for."

.

"What did I say about being mean?"

.

"Hungry. Can't obey two commands at once, Princess, so cute it is."

.

She thrust the meal in front of him with a playful grin. "Here," she surrendered. "It's all yours."

.

He looked back up at her as she patted his shoulder and left him with a tray of food in front of his nose with nothing to eat it with. His expression paled as desperation saw him reach for it, but common decency saw him restrain it. With his luck, she was returning to her bag to grab a collar. "I appreciate the thought but… could we try to preserve, at least, a little of what remains of my humanity?"

.

Neirah returned with her bag in tote before sitting down on the bed beside him and offering him a pair of chopsticks. "We could try," came her rousing gesture. He took the sticks in his hand under careful observation as she folded one leg over her other and observed. "But I somehow doubt we'd get very far with that."

.

The two stared silently at the tray for a long moment before Laxus took both sticks in his closed fist and pressed them down into the centre of one of the tender bites. He retracted the offering in a similar manner, the sticks remaining past his lips as he chewed.

.

"Oh… my god." It wasn't long after that Neirah was silently slipping him a fork. "Good thing I brought back up."

.

"You're a heartless bitch," he snapped while he quickly replaced his cutlery.

.

"Well, you're not generally very entertaining company," she cooed playfully as she hid her chopsticks again. "I have to make due." She shifted around her bag for another long moment before bringing out her next offering, an unopened bottle of liquor. "Here… I wasn't going to give this to you until we had a better hold on Ghoul Knight's situation, but…"

.

Laxus shifted his gaze from where he still laid on the bed, one arm wrapped around his plate while the other tried not to drop any of the chicken's sauce on the pillow he still had fluffed beneath his collarbone. "I didn't see you grab that tonight?" He sat up and hesitantly took the offering from her, trying not to articulate just how grateful he was for its presence. It had been way too long since his last drink and if his day didn't end soon, his nerves might be too shot to repair with its numbing taint. "Coulda used this a couple hours ago." He shot her sheepish shrug a bitter glare. "How the hell did you know what I like to drink?"

.

"Cana told me-" Neirah metaphorically face-palmed, her cheeks glowing red with her subliminal message.

.

"Wait, wh-? Just how long have you had this?" He demanded sceptically.

.

"Not important!" Neirah hissed defensively. "It'll help with the pain."

.

"No pain."

.

"No lies!" She scolded indefinitely. "And if nothing else, it might help you sleep."

.

Laxus watched her carefully as he broke the top off the bottle and considered her sentiment. She looked like she was turning to offer him a glass but before she could return to facing him again, he'd taken a long drink before setting the bottle on the stand between beds. Neirah sighed as she slowly stood and crossed the room towards the second one. Then, when he was sure she wasn't looking, he snuck another irrationally long swig. Refreshing was an understatement. "Why do you think I need help with that?" He encouraged curiously. He raised his food to his chin as he continued to gratefully devour it's offering.

.

Neirah started to gather the dishevelled bedding from the second bed, doing her best to conceal the marks of blood smears in it. "I already told you, you fuss a lot in your sleep."

.

"But that implies that I'm sleeping."

.

"Yes, but not soundly," she instigated. "Your body remains tight and your breathing hard. Sometimes, you flinch, other times you try to make noise. It's kind of painful to watch."

.

"Warrior princess, doctor, therapist, you can do it all, can't you?" He retrieved his bottle again, praying she didn't get snitchy with him for drinking straight out of it.

.

"Empress," she corrected slyly. She returned to his side to snatch his empty tray from him. "Feel better?"

.

"I don't know, these pillows are pretty pathetic. Might feel better if I had a better set."

.

Neirah leant in towards him and gently brushed her nose up against his, a sweet smile on her lips. "You don't have to try so hard," she crooned. "You know I'm coming to bed with you tonight, I have nowhere else to sleep."

.

He turned and spared the other bed a glance. "That bad, huh?"

.

"Let's just say it's a good thing all they had left were two-bed rooms."

.

He smiled faintly when he considered that he'd finally have her in his arms for an entire night. Suddenly, the pain and the pressure of his fever seemed dim. He climbed to his feet and gave her a gentle kiss on the head. "I'll be back. If you're gone when I get here, things are gonna get ugly."

.

"Wait- where are you going?" She really didn't mean to sound so pathetically panicked when she interrogated him.

.

"You ask too many questions." He groaned, snatching her toothpaste upon passing. "Don't worry, I'm not the type who likes to hit-and-run."

.

"You're implying that I am?"

.

He looked back over his shoulder as he crossed the bathroom threshold, a sly smirk on his lips. "Seein' as I'm the first one you've hit, we're gonna have to wait and find out."

.

Neirah's face grew hot as she heard him turn on the water, her vacant stare wide as she received his implications. "O-oh…"

.

* * *

.

Neirah reached out and softly peeled the curtains away from the window of the room they were lingering in for the night. It had become stifling since they'd showered and after opening the window in the slightest, the breeze coming off the small port town was refreshing. It reminded her of Hargeon; somewhere far closer to home than where they were.

.

Her powder blue sleeping gown whispered loosely around her knees as the seawater spilt into the room with the unfurling bellow of the curtains. She tried not to think about it too much; home, that was. Laxus seemed to be optimistic about his being able to bully her back into their hearts, but somehow, she felt differently.

.

When she had awoken beneath the ocean and returned to the land of the living, things had changed. Her life, her purpose, they were both forfeited when she discovered the horrifying truth about her past that had been denied to her all those years; a truth that she didn't believe her friends and guildmates could ever accept. If she had to be honest with herself, she didn't think Laxus himself would be able to come to terms with the harsh reality that was her existence and the thought made her weak with agony.

.

To come so far, only to lose him again.

.

With the moonlight at her front casting shadows over her shoulder and her thoughts too deeply embedded with dismay, she didn't pick up on his approach until his hands were on her hips from behind her and slowing inching around her tiny waistline. "The view's still better from back here…" He rumbled his words softly against her neck and then allowed his lips to linger on the soft skin bare for his presence.

.

"Cheesy," she scolded gently. But her hands still folded over his against her abdomen. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, at least finding comfort for that moment in the strength of certainty he'd promised her. It had been a year since the end of the Grand Magic Games had seen them in a similar situation on the balcony of Fiore's kingdom.

.

And she _still_ liked how it felt.

.

"You seem to be into that kind of thing," he murmured against her cheek just before kissing the flush in it. "You were worried about the bed, you should see the bathroom."

.

The colour drained out of Neirah's face as widened sapphires glistened like starlight in alarm. "Oh no, we'll be banned from the town forever."

.

"Don't worry," he assured her tenderly. He kept his grip on her stern to prevent her from scurrying off to straighten the mess they'd made. "I cleaned up. You just stay for a bit." He leant his face against the crook of her shoulder, drawing in her comforting scent as he looked out over the bay. It was a very similar night about a year ago that he was shown the woman that concealed herself inside a nervous girl. Ever since then, escaping her had become difficult. She was in his thoughts, in his dreams, and when she had left just before Makarov announced the disbanding of the guild, his colour faded to grey without her smile.

.

She was the crimson in his blood, the air he breathed. His lust had grown insatiable to the point where he started to worry that he might not be able to face another day without searching for her. He needed to know if what he was feeling was stronger, and the night that he found her by chance in a seedy looking bar, the night he'd watched her dance, he knew. His feelings weren't something he could simply shake.

.

He needed to get closer.

.

Neirah reached back and laid the backs of her fingers against his cheek. "You're really warm." She whispered gently to preserve the peaceful silence blanketing them. "Do you want me to open the window more?"

.

"It's fine."

.

"It's your fever, isn't it?"

.

He shook his head. "It's probably the way the light, the moon and the way it… it makes your skin… dance. That's what I meant to say."

.

Neirah looked over her shoulder and snorted amusement. "The moon is making my skin dance?"

.

He groaned and diverted his bashful features. "You know what I meant. The moon's the dancing one."

.

"Well now, tell me how is it that skin can dance?"

.

"I knew I shouldn't've said anything."

.

Neirah spun out of his arms with a blissful smile, her fingers barely connecting with his as she stretched out her arm. "No, you probably shouldn't have, awkward brute," she cooed. She released his hand so that she could sweep her fingers through the air. "I think what you meant to say in a clumsy, yet charming, way, was that the _moonlight_ dances on my skin."

.

He knew she was trying to spark up a playful confrontation between them, but the way her hips swayed and rocked to her heart song had him surrendering any resistance to her spell. He let his gaze indulge as she danced across the room, the moon doing just as she suggested while it acted like her spotlight. He was just as entranced as he had been the first day he saw it, but so much had changed since then.

.

There was nothing but the wind humming with noises of ocean water as it broke for the port. It was far more serene than the loud music the club had used to announce the Golden Dragon's presence. Her gown was modest and covered her from bust to knee, and it didn't even hug the curves he had worked so hard on memorising that night. It was the complete opposite of the scantily clad figure he'd watched swing around a pole under the heat of strobes. This time, there was no pole. She weaved naturally over her make-believe stage. Smooth, fluid; so much so that she looked like the embodiment of the water he heard washing through the ships down below them. She was clean and unbound, her hair floating freely at her back. She wasn't war painted, her toes were bare and smile broad.

.

That was how he knew it was love. Because nothing about what she had done at the erotic little club he'd dug her up in could make him sweat like the way he did when he watched her dance into the night, blissfully content and coloured with adoration.

.

He took a step back and let the bed catch his knees. Collapsing onto the mattress, he just sat and observed. He wasn't even experiencing the same sort of arousal he'd suffered the moment he'd gotten her alone, it had already completely changed. His lust was twisting and the desire he'd felt for her wasn't such a primal one, it was tender. After a single night of being alone with her, he'd learned so much, enough to sate his raging libido and help him see the situation for what it was.

.

It may not have always been love, but in that moment, it was.

.

It was something that both excited and terrified him all at once.

.

His thoughts were interrupted when he was forced to focus on the delicate fingers she reached out to him. "Rebooting?" She crooned. She barely allowed him to take her fingers before she was shuffling her way onto his lap. "Or do you always stare so vacantly into space?"

.

He had to admit, he was certainly a little livelier once she'd straddled herself over his lap. "I'm still tryin' to figure everything out," he admitted bleakly. He stroked her diamond-highlighted silhouette with the backs of his fingers beneath his wandering gaze. "I'm afraid to sleep… because I'm…"

.

"Afraid you're going to wake up?"

.

He looked back up at her with a desperate exhaustion weighing his features. "It's changed. We've… changed."

.

Neirah drew his lips to hers and pressed them tightly together. At first, she let the pressure linger for the duration of a heavy breath, then, she started to encourage something deeper.

.

It took him a while to relax into her touch, but when his eyelids finally closed, he didn't know if he'd have the strength to open them again. He would be the last to admit, but he was exhausted. The emotional and physical drain of the last twenty-four hours they'd spent nearly alone together had completely rearranged his priorities.

.

Her touch really was his sedation, an overwhelming euphoria that consumed him. All he wanted to do was drown in her love. It had been so long since someone had cared enough to just hold him, to embrace a silence that could fill him with reassurance. And when she looked at him with that solemn, heartwarming smile, and just whispered that everything would be ok; he believed her.

.

His kiss was different. She realised she had initiated it, but the way he reacted was unlike the other kisses they'd shared that night. He had remained submissive, not once bullying his way deeper into her mouth with an eager tongue. It reminded her of giving up, completely surrendering to- to something. Of what? She wasn't sure.

.

She let one hand rest on his neck as the other clasped his head gently to their embrace. If for just one night, she wanted to believe that what they had would last; last the rising sun, last the unearthing of unavoidable truths.

.

She slipped her lips away from his and curled them into a tender smile. "Is my prince ready for bed?" She purred sweetly.

.

He continued to linger quietly in front of her, his fingers absently trailing her spine over the satin of her gown. "Your prince…"

.

She beamed her encouragement. " _Mine_. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?" She watched him linger contentedly on the impact of her words before she gently laid her fingers against the ink on his chest and encouraged him to lay back. She shifted in his lap to allow him to adjust and soon, she was sitting over him as he laid back on the sheets. "Do you need me to tuck you in?" She teased, rolling flirtatious touches over his bare chest and abdomen.

.

"Well, it's about damn time you tried to come on to me for once," he groaned with contented hunger. He reached out and grasped her hips, his thumbs brushing the sky coloured satin from her skin. It wasn't a needy grasp, but a gentle one, one that just enjoyed being against her.

.

"I'm not coming on to you," she defended through her warm smile.

.

He propped himself up on his left elbow to favour his aching right side and he reached out to stroke her lower lip with his thumb. "Cult kid or not, that's what's happening here, Princess. _You_ put _me_ on my back." He flashed an impish grin. "All that's left for me to decide is whether I'm just gonna sit back and take it."

.

"That shouldn't be a hard decision to make," she assured him. Tender fingertips lightly pushed him back against the pillows again. "Do you like it?"

.

His attention was captured by one of her thin nighty straps slipping over her shoulder and it took her gripping his jaw to redirect it.

.

"If you like it, there's no reason to fight it, right?"

.

He smiled back at her simplicity. "I love your crazy logic." He slipped his arms behind his head as he tipped it back, his lower back hollowing in a languid stretch beneath his unsteady lover. He relaxed again and just quietly observed her as she moved her hands over his body. He kept one hand behind his head against the pillow as his other grew adventurous and started to trace her curves. "Your brother's gonna freak."

.

Neirah didn't bother looking at him with his sly remark. Instead, she just pressed her palms into his left shoulder and kneaded out the tension. "We're not going to tell him," she cooed certainly.

.

"Fuck that," Laxus quipped with an amused snort. "Even if the idiot doesn't figure it out on his own, I'm gonna be holding this over his head for m- HSS DAMN IT!"

.

Neirah slowly retracted her thumb from where she'd jabbed it into the tender joint of his shoulder, her relaxed grin never once wavering. She rolled her palms over the ache to help ease out the cramps she'd caused him. "What are we _not_ going to do?"

.

Laxus scoffed defiantly and turned his head away. Feeling her reach for the same sensitive joint, he scrambled beneath her in defence as he silently contemplated dumping her over the side of the bed. "Tell him!" He growled. "Tell him, fuck, ok I get it!"

.

Neirah shifted tenderly and started to work her massage over his chest and abdomen. "We still have work to do, Laxus. It's bad enough we're setting our pace back a whole day. I don't need you two at war with each other again."

.

He'd just felt her fingers working his tired body for a moment before he lurched forwards and snatched her wrist away from his stomach. "Hey, knock it off!" He demanded sternly, his gaze narrowed in threat. "How many times do I have to tell you it doesn't hurt? Quit wasting your magic on me."

.

"And how many times do _I_ have to tell _you_ that I know you're lying." She drew her wrist to her face and gave the back of his hand a tender kiss. "If you could tell I was using my magic, it's obviously because it's easing that ache you claim isn't there. I'm not going to get any stronger without pushing my limits."

.

Laxus drew nearer by sitting up entirely beneath her, both his hands holding her face against his stern warning. "Don't give me that crap," he hissed. "You and I both know that you're still prone to magical deficiency illnesses. I can kick this on my own, but if you get sick on us, it's game over."

.

"But do you feel better?" She murmured in a gentle inquisition.

.

"Fuck, Neirah!"

.

"Do you?" She repeated just as softly.

.

He expelled a bluntly exasperated sigh as he watched her sleepy gaze linger on his. "I- yes," he admitted coarsely. He should have caught on to her plan long before his fever had lifted. Sometimes he hated how reckless she could be.

.

Neirah leant forward and gently kissed him, a small smile on her pouty lips. "I'm glad."

.

When she shifted from his lap and crawled beneath the covers at his side, he noticed that the small marks and bruising around his bandages had lessened. She had never been a very skilled healer, but recently, she'd managed to do more than he thought she was capable of. A part of him wondered what had actually happened that morning. He wasn't sure if Ryverika had somehow managed to spare his life, or if the little woman curled up against the pillow next to him with a sleepy smile was responsible.

.

"I need you to be strong," she whispered quietly whilst raising the covers in hopes he'd join her beneath them. "You're the strongest wizard Infinity Dragon has. I can't do this without you."

.

He sighed as he took the covers from her and draped them over his hips. "I think you and I both know that's a load of crap…"

.

Neirah scooched forward and bopped her head against the ink on his chest, her arms sliding around his waist. She let a long moment of silence pass comfortably between them before speaking again. "I'm afraid of tomorrow," she whispered bleakly. She wriggled her watering features against him affectionately. "And the next day… I don't know if I can make this right."

.

Laxus' expression softened grimly as he scooped her up into his arms and clutched her tightly beneath the strength of his reassurance. "We've had it rough before, this'll be no different…"

.

"I want to go home too…"

.

Laxus' heart sank with her shattered little whimper. He had only seen her act so fragile a couple of times, but every time he did, the pain went a little deeper.

.

"With you, and big brother and Pantherlily… I want to go back, I want them to take me back…" There was a sniffling hitch in her breath as her tears started to dampen his bandages. "I miss my precious dewdrop, Juvia… Cana, Mirajane, and Erza… I miss Jet and Droy and Levy… Even Natsu and Lucy." She sealed her eyes tight and listened to her heartbeat ringing in her ears. "I miss being normal…"

.

He hated how she trembled so fiercely in his arms, and even if he felt like she was expecting him to offer her comfort, he really didn't know what to say.

.

"When Mirajane met with me in the north, she didn't try to stop me. She said that even if she didn't understand why I was doing what I was doing, she trusted that it was what was right." She shook her head like she was denying her own purpose. "All she asked when she smiled back through her tears was that I take care of you and Gajeel, and bring you home safe. I almost lost you today. She'll never forgive me!" She whined feverishly, gently shaking her head against his chest. "Tell me they'll take me back," she whimpered weakly. "Laxus… tell me it's not over."

.

"I'm not gonna give them a choice," he sneered. His grip on her strengthened with his uttered promise. "We'll all go home together, you, me, even that idiot brother of yours. And if anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way, I'll put their lights out…"

.

Neirah's grip on him tightened until he was groaning with the discomfort of the pressure on his chest. "I've never been so afraid to be who I am…" Her whisper was bleak as she tipped her desperate cobalt gaze his way. She didn't blink wide eyes so the tears just pooled on trembling lower lids. "I don't want to lose you…"

.

He had no idea what she was talking about anymore, but he'd heard enough of it. He rolled her onto her back and pressed his chest tightly to hers as his lips covered the words she was going to say before they had escaped. A part of him was warmed by the knowledge that they could share their pain and weakness together, washing it away with their passion. But the part of him that wanted to see her every dream fulfilled and every whim catered to, felt helpless to stop her pain. He wanted to assure her that it wasn't in the guild's nature to hold a grudge, he and her brother had been perfect examples of that. But at the same time, his grandfather's warnings still stung open wounds.

.

* * *

 _._

 _"_ _If this turns into a war, Laxus, I need you on our side."_

.

* * *

.

Laxus drew his brow to hers and their kiss came to a reluctant end. "Why is the old man so afraid of you?" He whispered the confrontation hoarsely, his denied expression ignoring the sudden hitch in her breathing. She must have known if she was afraid of it herself. "That guard you drop before you get serious, where are you gettin' that kind of power?" He felt her pressure on him increase like she was struggling to deny his nearness but he couldn't be away from her. "What aren't you telling me?"

.

Neirah's lower lips encroached on her upper one as it trembled with her wavering gaze. Hot tears streaked her cheeks as she contemplated exposing her secrets, but fear for the premature breaking of her heart kept her silent.

.

Laxus slowly opened his eyes and looked down at her trembling expression, a timid shudder in her wide gaze as she stared back at him. He slowly shook his head. "What am I doin' wrong? Why can't you trust me with this?"

.

"Because I love you."

.

Her half-drowned hoarse whimper was so gently fragmented that he could barely absorb the impact of her sentiment. Whatever secret she was hiding was so terrifying to her that she felt like she was going to lose everyone close to her with its expulsion. She rattled with the containment of her truths so vigorously that he was almost certain she hadn't even told her big brother. The thought made him uneasy. It had obviously made Makarov uneasy. The little girl trembling in his arms, her heart intertwined with his, had a secret so dark that she refused to share it with a single soul.

.

"It has to do with that book you left with Levy, doesn't it?" He softly encouraged. "Your mom's old journal."

.

Neirah looked away sheepishly. He was right. The Kho'Misika N'Ahrai was an entire book dedicated to Ryverika's legacy written by Suri Castellos herself; Neirah's late mother.

.

Laxus took a hold of her face and redirected her attention his way. "Neirah, what's in that book?" Laxus repeated sternly.

.

"The end…"

.

The grim warning on her trembling lips had silenced his heartbeat in his chest until he was sorry he'd asked. He had known that Ryverika had been known as the harbinger of the apocalypse, and Tartaros demons went so far as to refer to Neirah's dragon force as the End-Light. He couldn't believe such destructive forces trembled at the mere sight of her and Kairyn, but they had; he had seen it with his own eyes. She had always pleaded ignorance, knowing so little about her past. Somewhere along her journey over the last year they'd been apart she had obviously found answers.

.

But where did that leave them?

.

He tipped his lips to her brow for a gentle kiss, something that obviously startled her when it was offered. "When we're done with Zade and his goons, I want you to tell me everything," he whispered lovingly. He had to know, but he was afraid to push her right out of his arms so soon. There was a chance that their newfound affection for each other would grow until there might come a time where sharing her secrets with him was easy. "Deal?"

.

It took Neirah a long moment to process his sincerity before she finally offered him a sad smile and a gentle head nod in response. She was grateful that he didn't pry, too grateful for words.

.

"But for tonight, just hold onto me… Y'know, in case tomorrow gets crazy…"

.

She looked startled when he shifted above her beneath the comforter. Instead of laying alongside her, he settled his hips between her thighs and to her surprise, he had removed his pants before doing so. She immediately clamped her thighs around his hips alarmed that she hadn't been able to deny his advance sooner. "Laxus, w-"

.

He didn't waste time interrupting her with a gentle kiss. He couldn't watch her suffer in tears any longer. He believed they both needed a pretty strong distraction and he knew just what he wanted that distraction to be. "I'll be gentle," he assured her softly. "If we have to keep this a secret, there's no telling when we'll be alone like this again." He nuzzled into her neck and listened to her breathing hitch as he slipped his palm between her thighs. "It's going to kill me, needing you but not being able to touch you. Just like before… 'Specially when I know you want it too."

.

Neirah tipped her head back, her arms grasping his shoulders as he pressed a finger up inside her. Her nails bit into his skin as she tried to draw him in, his name on her breathlessly parted lips.

.

"I need this," he murmured vacantly upon sliding one of her nightgown straps over her shoulder. "Just in case it's all I've got for a long time."

.

It had felt so good to be in a bed. Even if it wasn't his own, it was something, and something he was incredibly grateful for after their last few weeks of sleeping on the cold hard ground. What was better, was he could share the luxury with her. There was nobody to interrupt them, nothing to get in their way, just the two of them.

.

He laid his lips on her breast, the best way he knew to get her ready for him. She responded to the slow strokes of his tongue with an exhilarated moan, her fingers on one of her hands inching up the back of his neck. He loved it when her body told him what she liked. The tight grip on his roots was seeing him lower his kisses to where her erect nipple was pressing against the thin satin of her gown. She knew what she wanted.

.

He breathed a heavy sigh above the material before soaking it beneath his tongue. She reacted accordingly with another sweet melody of approval. He let the material cool, the chill tightening the nub beneath his nose as he nuzzled his way into the cleavage her upper arms created when her hands clutched his head.

.

It didn't take her body long to react to her eagerness beneath his touch. She loved the fondling of her beautifully engorged breasts, it made her dampen beneath his fingers and that was something he was going to need if he was going to slide back inside her for a second time that night.

.

He watched her writhe, trying to determine whether it was with sexual frustration or pain. The way her face knotted might have indicated pain, but the way her soft, blissful moans filled his ears assured him that if he stopped there'd be hell to pay.

.

He gave her gown a little tug until the material shifted to release the nipple he'd teased tight. The band of her half-removed garment propped the heavy flesh up on display to his wanting tongue and when his lips found her aroused flesh, his other palm heavily petted the other.

.

She was shaking uncontrollably when he finally lifted his gaze to observe her reaction to his touch. The light trail of tears shimmering around her tightly sealed lashes made him withdraw his presence from inside her with a heavy heart. He raised his other hand from her breasts and took her face in its palm to steady her whimpering expression. "You really don't want me to do this, do you?"

.

She immediately shook her head, and unintentionally made his stomach turn. "No, it's not that…" She whimpered gently and held her hand to his. "It actually doesn't hurt as bad as it did the last time."

.

"What's wrong then?"

.

"Nothing…" She whispered her words tenderly, offering him one of her signature melancholy smiles. "I'm just really overwhelmed, by everything, right now." She looked back at him and tried to hide her shivers. "I'm scared, but full of hope, I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm lonely, but in love." She leant forward and gently pressed her lips to his. "You're right, we may not have another opportunity to be together like this for a long time. So… I want it too…"

.

Their lips met in a deep, fiery kiss, but when he reached towards returning his hand between her thighs, she quickly stopped him.

.

"No," she swiftly denied. "I... it hurts more when you tease," she admitted bashfully. Her cheeks were burning up with her humiliation.

.

He dusted his lips hungrily over the flushed tops of her breasts, his body tightening for her pleas. "So, what do you want then?"

.

Neirah knotted up her face in mortification. "Please don't make me say it…" She whimpered weakly, raising her hips to where she could feel the heat of his erection pressed against her.

.

A triumphant grin tainted his expression as he sucked her swollen nipple back behind his teeth. "If you don't tell me, I might fuck up and tease you again."

.

Neirah shuddered and expelled a desperate moan. "You know what I mean, please don't be a jerk about it," she begged. "It's humiliating…"

.

Her desperation lit his fire and he could tell by the way that his cock slid between her damp folds that their confrontation was getting her hot. He lowered his lips to her ear and spoke through his sly grin. "More humiliating that spreading your legs for someone's face?"

.

"Yes!" She shouted, the heat of her colouring skin contradicting her claims.

.

His fingers sliding over her clit assured him that she was ready for his entry, but he was having far too much fun 'distracting her'. Teasing the sensitive bundle of nerves sent her right over the edge and had him jealous that he wasn't already inside her to feel it.

.

Her demand was pitifully helpless as she laid her hands on his wrist and tried to pull him away. All the while, her receding tugs only encouraged him to increase the pressure on her sensitivity. "Please stop."

.

He wrapped his free hand around her breast and sucked on her hardened nipple until her gentle moans cut the air in shrill wails of ecstasy. "Specifics, woman," he growled.

.

She wanted to deny him the taste of her breast, but her hands instinctively clutched him there to encourage his devouring. Her lips trembled as she whimpered in embarrassment beneath his greed. "I want you inside me," she mewled hesitantly.

.

Her words, however unspecific, still managed to surge sparks through his veins. "Then why did you tell me to stop?" His threat slipped his fingers from her clit to where he prepared to enter her with them.

.

"Not those!" She demanded. She gasped when he lurched forward and covered her ear with his lips.

.

"Then _what_?" His demand was almost sinister and he was unsure of whether he'd be able to wait for her to break. He could feel how slick she'd grown beneath his games and his need made his mouth water. Neirah was a damn proud woman. Many of her friends and guildmates had seen her naked. There might've been a time where he thought she had no shame, but that was before he'd learned another valued kink to his sweet flower. She liked to be told what to do, even if it wasn't what she wanted to. It was something he intended on keeping in mind if they ever did get a chance to indulge again soon and he may have wished he'd known earlier. It was going to make their union much more comfortable for her until she'd grown used to his presence inside her.

.

He lowered his voice more tenderly but didn't remove his lips from her ear as he worked her soft breast in his palm. "Tell me how you want it, and I'll give it to you."

.

"You're being unfair," she wheezed. "Why don't you have to say what _you_ want?"

.

For a man of few words, he certainly had a few for her when encouraged. "I'm so fucking hard right now, I'd put your brother's _iron_ to shame and I have no problem in telling you _exactly_ where I want to put it," he warned shamelessly. "And if you don't play along soon, I might just take care of this myself and head to bed. I'm beat, it's been a long day and I'm not in the mood for your little games."

.

" _MY_ games?!" Neirah gasped, her narrowed gaze cutting to where he was lingering alongside her. "You wouldn't dare!" She hissed impatiently.

.

"I knew I'd find a way to get you hot eventually."

.

The urge she had to strike the conceited smile from his face was almost overpowering. She turned away again and thought about his warning. 'Would he honestly just leave me wanting like this?' The colour drained from her face as he removed his hand from between her thighs and took his thick cock into his own palm. She watched as he stroked himself, making sure that the head teased the heat of her opening with the pressure of every stroke.

.

"Think I'm kidding?"

.

She whimpered helplessly as she observed him. She could see the unbearable tightness between his fingers and just like before, she marvelled that the adjustment wasn't more painful. And she did want it. She wanted it inside her. She wanted it bad. "Please don't," she whimpered meekly. "I… I want it…"

.

He shifted his gaze quickly to hers, his curiosity piqued with her soft admittance. "Want. what?" He pried, his breathing laboured with arousal.

.

"You… inside me…" Her face was so hot with shame that she thought it'd melt away. She knew that wasn't going to be good enough for him. He'd already challenged her vagueness with his fingers. "It… that…"

.

She had given him an inch, so he was prepared to do the same. Her body was hot as it swelled around the head of his cock, but he refused to give her any more than a couple hungry moans worth. He continued to pump his fist slowly over his shaft even as the tip pressed inside her. He groaned in delight as she writhed and beckoned him deeper with her whines. "Getting warmer."

.

Getting warmer wasn't possible for her. She had all but ignited. She whined as the top of his thumb brushed against her clit with every pump of his hand. "More, Laxus, give me more. Please…"

.

"More of?" She threw her head back as he withdrew from inside her only to give her a little more of him. Her moans were piercing as she raised her hips to try and claim him. He quickly thrust his free hand down against her tummy to keep her from getting more than she deserved for her delay but he had to admit that even the slightest indulgence on his part was making him sweat with his eagerness.

.

He wanted to try and be gentle with her, simply offer her a tender distraction from her thoughts, but that had all changed when they started playing their games. His hunger had grown insatiable again. "It's so easy." He groaned encouragement, his own need accelerating his tone. "Tell me what you want and I'll give it to you." He panted a heavy breath as he dropped his head and closed his eyes, his body tight with need. "Fuck, I'll give it to you…"

.

"Your cock!"

.

He couldn't deny that the exasperated demand from her lips startled him, so much so that it took him a moment to decide how he wanted to respond. Before he could, though, she was repeating herself like she thought that wouldn't suffice.

.

"God, you're such an egotistical pervert!" She wailed, tipping her crimson features back as she thrashed against the palm confining her hips. "I want you- I want your cock inside me! I don't care if it hurts. I want to feel the way I felt the first time over and over again. I want to be the body that makes the man I love come alive, but I can't be if he won't give in to me!"

.

Laxus watched her seethe humility for a long moment, completely not expecting the storm to follow her original admittance. It was the way she said it; it was almost poetic, not lewd at all. It reminded him that she didn't want him for the pleasure he could bring her. She wanted him for the way sharing the moment with him made her feel.

.

She wanted him because she loved him.

.

Grounded by her sentiment and left speechless in the wake of her demands, he covered her lips with his in a passionate exchange. He didn't have something equally as tender to offer her statement, his head still reeling with the power of hers. So instead, he gave her what she wanted and slid the entirety of his shaft inside the scorching confines of her body beneath his palm.

.

She bucked feverishly beneath his hand, but he pressed her still as her body swallowed every inch agonisingly slowly. He broke their kiss to give his actions purpose. "This is what you wanted," he assured her. His breathing was equally as rugged as he watched her struggle to catch her breath. "Feel it." He withdrew from inside her and repeated the same slow thrust that saw him hip deep in her body and her pained moans grew euphoric in seconds. She was a slave to her own imagination, and when he made her stop and think about it, she was a wet mess of lust beneath him.

.

She was still prying at his hand to release her squirming when he snatched it away and drove it into the bedding at her side. With the force he'd used to clutch her hand beneath his, she was instantly freed from her lust-driven trance and grew more alert to his presence. She looked back at him, her expression warm with affection and her fingers trembled a moment before they closed around his.

.

His heart was aflutter when she looked back at him and smiled. "I really did fall in love with you, didn't I?" She mewled softly, struggling to laugh between her blissful sighs.

.

"I hope so," he admitted tenderly. "'Cause I worked my ass off for this and I'd hate for it to be one-sided."

.

She snickered vaguely before her desire was seeing her sated expression withdrawn lustfully, leaving her throat wide open for his kisses. She inhaled deeply and wrapped her thighs tight around his hips, trying to keep him from withdrawing entirely with his thrusts. Her favourite sensation was when he was overwhelmingly tight inside her. The way she could feel his presence well in her throat with her itch to call out his name, the way his breathing hitched when she clutched him tightly to try and keep him from escaping her, it made her even hotter.

.

She rolled her fingers slowly over his back, feeling every muscle as it contracted beneath her fingertips to her body's command. She could concentrate more on such small indulgences; their slow and tender embrace saw her far less pained than their last. She held her palm over his shoulder for a moment and felt his heartbeat thunder powerfully beneath it. She had never once stopped to question whether his feelings for her were sincere or not, something that would probably make her girlfriends' skin crawl back home.

.

She tightened her grip on his hand, something he responded to by doing the same.

.

But she had never felt like she needed to. They had waited so long to hold each other, and once they had, she felt like it was strong enough to never let go. They _had_ fallen in love, and hard. So hard she was sure it'd take her weeks to catch her breath; especially when every thrust of his hips was chasing it out of her.

.

She heard him call out to her in a ragged whisper, his lips parted breathlessly just beneath her ear. It lit a fire in her belly that she was sure she wouldn't be able to conceal. She threw her head back and moaned his name in reciprocation, her core contracting around his cock as it plunged deep inside her between slow pumps. He wasn't striking her harshly when he entered her, but he was pushing his limits, forcing her to overflow with his thick presence.

.

It was happening again. She was coming unhinged and seeing little white stars behind her sealed eyelids. Her thighs trembled around him as her hips reared to claim more from his drives, trying to stimulate herself in just the right place to ease the ache of her building climax. Last time, he'd been the first to find relief, leaving her incredibly overwhelmed until it chased hers from inside her moments later. This time, he seemed to be remaining strong. Every move calculated.

.

He could tell she was close when her hands found his haunches, fingernails biting into his flesh to encourage his pressure inside her to remain. It was something he would grow to expect from her. He'd found himself at a crossroad. Earlier, he'd lost his head in the moment and forgotten to even try to withhold his climax until after he'd pulled away from her body. If they had managed to avoid the consequences of one time, luck would be on their side, but the chances of luck running out for them was high when he considered a repeat offence.

.

The other road to consider was the beautiful moment they found themselves embracing. He didn't want to withhold any of the sensations from her, he wanted to experience them with her. Again, and again… Surely, she would have held some concern for their first entanglement if she hadn't protected herself without his knowledge.

.

He knew she was close and that he wouldn't be far after her once her tight channel rippled completion around his throbbing member so he really didn't have a lot of time to decide. "Neirah… I'm not gonna last…" He hated how pathetic that statement sounded but he couldn't help that his body was weak to hers. Maybe he'd develop a tolerance to it once she'd stopped being so new to his touch, but he doubted it. He was almost certain that the way she made him swell with affection had more to do with his fuse length than he thought. "What do you-"

.

"No. stay," she breathed out in exhilarated spurts. "Just like this… just a little longer…"

.

Although she didn't have a really great grasp on the kind of control he _didn't_ have over the situation, he did his best to oblige her, trusting that she knew something he didn't. He held her hand tight to the bedding and laced the other one in the roots of her hair near her brow. He closed his eyes and butted their foreheads together with a sleepy smile. "Yes, ma'am," he rumbled affectionately.

.

His devotion had seen her smile, for at least a moment before she'd lost her senses to the overwhelming power of her peak. She threw her head back with a sated moan, her core rippling around his length as she called his name.

.

He was crazy for the way she fit him. She wrapped tightly enough around him, to begin with, but once her orgasm started to pulse around his girth inside her, there was no hope for immunity to the unbearable pleasure. As soon as her moans started to subside, he lunged forward and pressed his lips tightly against hers, swallowing her whimpers as he felt his body's tension release deep inside her.

.

He pressed their bodies tight together when she started to shudder beneath his body with the obvious sensation of being filled by him. He couldn't be close enough to her, not even buried hip-deep and satiated with a passionate kiss expanding by the breath. It never seemed to be enough to satisfy his hunger for their love.

.

He panted a hard breath as soon as the waves of euphoria had washed over them, leaving trembling bodies to linger blissfully intertwined. "Damn," he muttered grimly. He waited to withdraw from inside her until he'd thought their situation through. "Is there seriously going to be nothing left of this room that we haven't made a mess of?"

.

Neirah snickered weakly as she considered his remark. "I think they'll forgive us," she cooed. "I told them this was our honeymoon."

.

Laxus stilled as he looked at her before smiling and tickling her nose with his. "You're a devious little thing, aren't you?" He teased devilishly, his tender kisses making her squirm. "I guess it's a start," he whispered. "But did we really have to soak the only bed left to sleep in?"

.

Neirah smiled warmly, a dark blush in her cheekbones as she scooched away from him and held up the sheets beneath her. "Actually… I had just invited you under the comforter," she encouraged. "So, the sheets beneath the blanket are probably still dry."

.

Laxus reached out, took her face between his hands and pressed a hard, shallow kiss to her lips. "I knew there was a damn good reason I was crazy about you."

.

She giggled bashfully as they cleaned themselves up and slipped comfortably beneath the mess of their entanglement. Afterwards, she curled up under his arm and laid her head against the pectoral opposing his wound. For a long moment, she just listened to his heartbeat and filled herself with the peaceful scents of the ocean drifting through the window.

.

"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to sleep…" Laxus groaned, tracing lazy circles between her shoulder blades. "This whole room stinks of sweat, sex and flowers."

.

"Is it making you uncomfortable?"

.

"It's driving me crazy," he admitted bluntly. "Don't freak out if I get handsy in my sleep 'cause I'm probably gonna be dreaming about fucking you all night."

.

" _Charming_ …" Neirah snorted her amusement. "Well, at least you're honest."

.

"Pathetic is what it is," he murmured grimly. His attention was attracted when the dainty creature against his chest crawled a little further onto him to let their gazes meet.

.

"I don't think so," she purred sweetly. "You've found something you care about and you're not afraid to open up about how much they mean to you. Now maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you've always been the type of person who would do that."

.

His thoughts travelled for a stunned moment before he smiled back at her humbly. "You're probably right."

.

"Maybe a couple run-ins with death was all you needed to remind you to cherish the people who care about you."

.

He slipped his fingers back through her tousled locks for a moment before speaking again. "I don't know what broke it that pretty little head of yours to make you care about me, but you won't catch me complaining."

.

"Me neither…" Her whisper was content as she laid one arm across his chest and pressed her lips to the flesh beneath her.

.

He rolled his thumb over her sleepy expression while she closed her eyes above her small smile. "Thanks," he uttered gently. He looked back into her tender gaze as it peeked over his skin at him. "For bringin' me back from the dead."

.

She tried to laugh but was far too exhausted to get very far. "Your welcome, Sparky," she teased while nuzzling into his chest. "I'm just returning the favour..."

.

He thought about her words for a moment when he remembered her return to Magnolia without memories of the life she'd lived. He'd thought he'd lost her forever then; before he'd even gotten a chance to tell her what was heavy in his heart.

.

* * *

 _._

 _He couldn't stand it anymore. No matter how long he stared into her eyes, his shadow wasn't in them. She had completely forgotten his face. Any memory she had etched into place seemed to have vanished, leaving a hollow woman to search the lands she used to love for a name she used to know. The cosmos of light that used to flicker behind her once precious sapphire gaze had been replaced by the glazed flicker of golden flames, melting away any signs of life that were once present. An unusual darkness surrounded her with the rise in her defences, but despite her bitter detachment to the cruel world she wandered, she couldn't have made her damaged disposition seem any gentler as she denied the identity he knew belonged to her. "I apologise for the confusion," she murmured softly. Her voice was distant and void as she tipped her melancholy expression away from his expectant gaze. "You are not the first I have inspired hope in since arriving in this town."_

 _._

 _And you don't find that strange!?" He encouraged energetically. "How can you still not belie-"_

 _._

 _"_ _I can't apologise enough..." She interrupted him with a sympathetic bow in her head. "I'll be on my way now." A brief and dismal sigh escaped her as a result of her internal frustrations. She was starting to believe that the encounters she had during her visit to the city were far from a coincidence. What she didn't understand is how everyone seemed to know who she was but her. 'I cannot linger in a place so filled with heartache,' she thought sadly. Her attention slid back towards where a cold, devastated steel gaze trembled back at her unshakably. 'It isn't fair to these people who have lost someone dear.' She was forced to lower her gaze with the desperation rising in the man across from her, the slow shake of his head denying the sincerity of her words._

 _._

 _"_ _So... she really is gone…" Neirah turned her attention back to the strange man before her, her heart aching for his loss as he weakly offered his reply while barely able to force the words past his lips. "I guess you just looked so much like her that we must've... you just..."_

 _._

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she whispered vaguely on repeat. She watched his resolve shatter from behind her vacant expression. "My intentions were never to resurface memories of this woman in wounded hearts. I'm only passing through." She turned her gaze away to avoid the devastation she brought to everyone around her. "She must have meant a lot to many for merely my presence to be capable of causing such pain." The briefest feeling of warmth collided with the bitter bite of jealousy she felt for the rivalled thoughts she had of the woman that might've very well been her._

 _._

 _His breath caught as he ground his teeth, waiting for the fall of his tears to touch his jaw before he looked back down at her… and smiled. "So this is… what it's like, huh?" He tried to steady his breaths as he kept his gaze locked on hers, waiting for even the faintest signs of hope. His jaw started to ache with the tension of his strain as he tried his hardest to keep from falling apart. "To be forgotten?"_

 _._

 _Finally, he cast his gaze downwards in defeat and thrust his hands deep into his pockets to keep from throwing them around a woman who didn't know his name. "It sucks," he offered weakly through his short laugh. 'And you let me do it to you all those years…' He turned away and kept moving forwards to hide the way he trembled with the force of his desolation, each step heavier than the last. He drew in a deep breath as he paused to look up into the sky._

 _._

 _Sakura._

 _._

 _He flashed a wave of his hand over his shoulder. "Well… take care of yourself… alright?" His throat worked dryly as he lowered his denied gaze on the path before him and prepared to move on. He couldn't force his memory back into her heart, no matter how badly he wanted to try. "And if you happen to see her, you tell her Sparky's lookin' for her."_

 _._

 _Despite the woman's detachment, the sight of him walking away hurt her, and when the sunset illuminated the silhouette of him casually waving his hand back in her direction, she tipped her fingers to her face with a surprised gasp. 'Tears… again?' Her fingers slowly traced the curve of her cheek with their incline and her gaze slowly fell to where his shadow crossed the earth to touch her toes._

 _._

 _'_ _Shadow…' Her heart started to race as the rippling of the earth's heat morphed the landscape before her until a young boy disappeared into a phantom crowd with his hands deep in his pockets. "Laxus…"_

 _._

 _The warmth of her tears falling reminded her that they were there as her trembling gaze watched him walk away. "You…" She could barely comprehend the words on her lips as her fingertips reached into her memories until they broke and returned to the reality she faced. She couldn't feel the single step she took; like the ground was no longer beneath her as she advanced her first step towards his shadow._

 _._

 _"_ _Why do you look…" Her breath caught with a helpless squeak as teardrops soaked the ground at her feet despite that she hadn't the slightest idea why. Her lips parted, golden flecks fading with her diluting pupils until the only gold left in her eyes was the reflection of the sun's last rays breaking over the horizon. "So… lonely?"_

 _._

 _He stood at her grave a week before; she had been lost to the sea, or that's what they said. But they were wrong, and she was alive. She couldn't be any more real before him, but despite her defying fate, she didn't remember her life before. Perhaps it really was fate that she was following, but if that was true, he couldn't understand why it had been so cruel to her. To them. He didn't know how to walk away from a friend who had been dead to them for so long, not after finding out that she was alive... not after finding out just how much they needed her._

 _._

 _How much he'd needed her._

 _._

 _He couldn't wait to get away, no matter how heavy his steps felt as they carried him away from a woman he felt he should never have met. 'I guess the road's endin' and there's not a damn thing I can do about it this time…' His thoughts were distant, his smile faded when she could no longer see the pain mar his face._

 _._

 _He couldn't take another step and his knees were growing far too weak to stand much longer. "Neirah…" He forced out haggardly from behind ground teeth. His fist flexed furiously at his side as he fought with everything he had to keep from turning around and scaring himself with the sight of her walking away from him forever._

 _._

 _"_ _You're goin' the wrong way!" He roared his demand bitterly to the silent air around him, sealing his teary gaze tight to replace the agony with rage. "I'm not ready!" He ignored the pain of the force rippling painfully through him as he hit his knees against the ground, throwing his hands into his hair with a devastated fierceness in his tensed grip. "What good are you stupid lizards if you can't save one little girl!? What good are you if you can't do all the things that… I couldn't…?"_

 _._

 _"_ _You should probably stand up before you get trampled or something." His eyes widened, his breath shortening as his train of thought was broken by the sound of a gentle voice speaking in unison with his youthful one from fifteen years past. He tipped his trembling gaze to where her dainty silhouette was entirely shadowed by the glow of the golden sunset at her back, her hand lowered her offer. His heart ached as he denied it, feeling the weight of embarrassment for his actions when she would never again be able to comprehend the pain her distance brought him._

 _._

 _He refused to look her in the eye as he climbed to his feet, he couldn't stand the thought of her pitying him, but he could have sworn that her hand trembled against his upon passing. He immediately diverted his gaze before speaking, dismissing the very thought as being illusionary. "I'm sorry," he murmured roughly through his suffering. "None of this was your fault…"_

 _._

 _"_ _You were wrong," she whispered sternly. She faded into the light before vanishing entirely before him. His breath caught and he shot his once diverted gaze to where she had been standing in front of him moments before. Her small figure resurfaced silently from behind him where her features could darken in the dim light of his shadow. "I was never meant to be the light…" He stilled, shuddering with the swelling of hope inside him as she reached out with trembling hands and wrapped them around his waist. "This is where I belong…" She squeaked, resting her face on his back, her tears falling so heavily that she couldn't see through open eyes._

 _._

 _"_ _Right here…" She whimpered in broken mewls against him, her trembling hands gripping his shirt as she held him tightly against her. "In your shadow."_

 _._

 _His speed was far too much for her to comprehend as he whirled in her embrace and threw his arms around her without another word, lifting her toes right off the ground she didn't even realise was beneath her either way. She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as she let out a shattered scream of unbridled relief. She couldn't have felt more comforted by the tightening of his embrace when his name passed her lips._

 _._

 _Her hands trembled as they roamed of their own accord, each sensation gracing her fingertips etching back into her fickle memory. Her subtle, bashful smile expanded as she laced her fingers in his hair and held him close to her, but she refused to feel guilty in her moment of weakness. She knew she loved him; she had always loved him… even if he couldn't love her back. 'I wasn't your light… you were mine.'_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"And for loving me, I guess…" Laxus smiled softly and clutched her dearly, placing his lips on top of her brow. "Thanks for that too…"

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _"_ _When I met him… he looked… so lonely. I wanted to see him smile… but Ryverika and I weren't around long enough for me to ever find him again… I really just wanted to be his friend, you know? I wanted to be the reason he smiled… the reason he wasn't lonely anymore…"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"You're welcome…"


	7. Dragons Descend

_**Dragons Descend**_

* * *

.

.

* * *

.

 _Laxus ran his fingers through his hair, a dismal sigh of defeat on his lips. 'She needed me… and I let her down…' He dropped his balled fist from his head to the table, the percussive bang reverberating through tired, numbed senses. 'Why does that hurt?' His next breath trembled upon its expulsion with his devastated sigh. "I didn't figure it out soon enough…"_

 _._

 _Out of the silence, his fist grew so tight that he couldn't stand it. He stood swiftly, upturning the table in the process before throwing his fist out with a furious roar of anguish. "Why the fuck can't I remember her?!" He didn't wince until after he'd realised that he put his fist through the wall at his side, the blood falling to the floor slowly as he kept it still._

 _._

 _"_ _Why me…?" He forced his words out unsteadily, tipping his forehead towards the wall as he slowly removed his fist from the broken boards. "I'm not invincible," he whispered silently. "I can't be your hero…"_

 _._

 _Laxus flinched with the clearing of his senses, his blood chilling as he whirled around to face the stern expression of his grandfather watching him silently nearby. He let his features ice over disdainfully as he turned away with a disgruntled scoff. "Got a problem, old man?" He hissed defiantly upon diverting his attention._

 _._

 _"_ _You seem awful hot over a battle you supposedly claimed victory over," Makarov observed quietly. Laxus grimaced impatiently with the sarcasm dripping off the old man's lips. As quick as he thought he was, Makarov was always one step ahead and liked to remind him of it. His master already knew that he'd been devastated by Marionette's ultimate weapon. He'd been devastated by it since the moment she'd called him sir…_

 _._

 _"_ _Listen, I don't need this crap from you right now!" He turned and picked his jacket up off the floor before starting to walk away in attempts to end their conversation._

 _._

 _Makarov's brow deeply creased as he stared at his grandson's shoulders. There wasn't an ounce of delicacy in the man's words as he spoke them. "I don't know what has sparked between you and Neirah as of late, but it must end now."_

 _._

 _Chilled didn't even begin to describe the feeling overcoming Laxus before seething rage overtook it and had his widening gaze tipping over his shoulder. "What did you just say…?" He hissed venomously._

 _._

 _"_ _You heard me," Makarov reiterated with a resolve unshaken._

 _._

 _Although he desperately wanted to demand an explanation, Laxus instead clenched his fist furiously in his coat and turned back away. "You knew that they had her all along," he confirmed bitterly._

 _._

 _"_ _Along with a pretty good idea of what they want with you." His breaths trembled as he forced them to keep escaping, his head light and reeling with curiosity. "Laxus, if this turns into a war, I need you on our side." Makarov froze when he heard Laxus' scoff turn into a distant and amused chuckle from where he had his back to his grandfather._

 _._

 _"_ _You know, it's funny," Laxus started slowly as he tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. "When I was a kid, all I wanted was for someone to call me by my own damn name..." Makarov's brow knotted sternly when Laxus' casual expression met his from over the boy's shoulder. "Neirah does that." He locked gazes with Makarov for a long moment before he scoffed and turned away. "Figures it'd take a Shadow to get me out of yours…"_

 _._

 _Makarov's heart sank as he watched Laxus casually stride away, hiding unbearable pains both physical and emotional. "Foolish child," he whispered softly. He turned his gaze to watch the blood leak down the boards that Laxus had split with his rage. "Of all the times you could've chosen to forfeit your selfish tendencies…"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _The guild was still and quiet as the doors creaked open, anxious eyes falling on the dark doorway as the storm raged on outside it. Levy climbed to her feet, Jet and Droy too late to stop the enthusiastic girl as she approached their lost team with a smile on her face. "Oh thank goodness you're all safe, I was so wo-" Her face paled, eyes widening with the flash of lightning illuminating tear-stained faces to her line of sight. Her heart stopped as she rested her weary gaze on the downcast one's of Fairy Tail's strongest team and it shattered when it came to rest on Natsu's as he shifted it in defeat, an unconscious Gajeel resting against his shoulder._

 _._

 _"_ _Gajeel!" She cried out upon running towards them._

 _._

 _"_ _Good lord, what happened out there!?" Makarov demanded frantically as an exhausted Natsu passed Gajeel off to Elfman and Levy._

 _._

 _"_ _Gajeel and Pantherlily discovered the Marionette stronghold before we could intercept them…" Erza murmured weakly upon passing. Makarov gasped before the question everyone had on their minds met his lips._

 _._

 _"_ _And our Neirah…?"_

 _._

 _Erza's breath caught with her well of emotion and despite immediately regretting the fact, her gaze had already risen to meet Laxus' where he lingered not far. The shake of her head said it all and so much more. "Forgive us, Master. We failed…"_

.

* * *

.

Laxus woke to the sound of the shower firing up in the bathroom not far from where he slept and the inspiration to rise was comforting. He opened his eyes and swept his hand back through his hair, a sheen of perspiration dampening his skin. "Fucking woman," he muttered grimly. He raised beneath the sheets to find that he was alone and he stared at her place for a moment of disappointment. Nothing but dishevelled sheets met him during his awakening. He was kind of hoping that their affections would have at least spilt into the morning, in part. He smiled solemnly at the thought. "Every time she uses that healing magic of hers, it gives me some crazy dreams," he mused externally.

.

He rubbed an ache out of his stiff neck as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and meditated a moment on the night that had passed. He was almost sure it had happened, that _they_ had happened. His dreams were never so vivid, her scent was still on his skin... her taste on his tongue.

.

His next couple smoky inhales had him groaning grimly. Dawn's fire. Obviously, the town was waking up. The shopkeepers in the market were lighting their forges and ovens with the start of the day. He hated the thought of fewer than six hours of sleep, to be fair he hated the thought of less than ten, but if what he'd thought happened the night before really had, he wouldn't change it for the world. Not to mention, for someone who got so little sleep he felt surprisingly refreshed.

.

His gaze shifted hazily with the drop of his hand and he considered joining Neirah in the shower, but the rise of his right arm reminded him that that would probably be a bad idea. Since her medicinal assistance had faded with her presence, he was back to fighting the pain on his own again. Although it wasn't crippling, it was still very much a part of him. The thought of her startled acts of self-defence if she didn't expect his presence in her bath successfully detoured him from standing. He sighed and dropped his head, still processing the entirety of their last twenty-four hours. But first things first, pants seemed like a pretty good idea.

.

* * *

 _._

 _Natsu threw Karua to the side like a ragdoll with a furious expel of flames and charged towards the golden glow of the completed magic circle. "I'm not going to let you take her!" Natsu's cries were livid as he powered into the barrier with a deafening roar of defiance. Neirah was almost in reach when he slammed into the magical resistance and plummeted back just as many steps as he'd taken. It didn't stop him. He charged again, fiercer, prouder. Stronger. "Give. her. BACK!"_

 _._

 _"Natsu!" Lucy's cries were interrupted when she watched a flaming dragon slayer pierce the golden aura one fist at a time._

 _._

 _"_ _He did it!" Happy cried._

 _._

 _Natsu's wails of defiance were thunderous over the swell of humming magical essence as he sank his fingers into the hole in the magic like it was tangible, ripping it to either side until he could step through and charge on the deranged guild master. "Shadow!" He roared to the agonised girl._

 _._

 _"He got through!" Gray observed in disbelief._

 _._

 _The Puppet Master's violet eyes barely had enough time to widen as Natsu's flaming fist tore through the centre of the circle and struck him hard in the jaw with the dragon slayer's fierce cry. The old man cried out as he was thrown through the barrier the circle had created and crashed into the mud of the earth outside it, forced to stare back in horror and disbelief. The moment it happened, panic filled him with the interruption the ritual had suffered, but before his worry could interject his smile, it was returning in force. The golden glow of infinite magic pierced the sky from the centre of the circle only, the energy narrowing on a screaming Neirah as it merged with her. "I've done it," he murmured in delight. "You're too late!" He boomed._

 _._

 _Natsu turned his attention back to where Neirah's unconscious body started to fall forwards, the light fading in the courtyard as a single narrow strand dispersed from above her. "Shadow?" He took an alarmed step forwards as her body started to become transparent. "Wait!" Natsu demanded, running towards her slow fall. "Hey! SHADS!?" His fingertips were a breath away from her skin when she fell into his embrace, and right through it. Natsu's wide-eyed gaze trembled as she ghosted through him and vanished in a soft fading light before she could meet the ground. He stared for a long moment at her cloak in his arms, his fingers trembling as he heard Lucy's agonised gasp pierce the air. "No," he muttered softly. "We... failed?"_

 _._

 _Pantherlily took flight and rushed to a wounded Gajeel's side. "He's unconscious..." He murmured lightly to himself, panicked over the amount of blood spilt from the wound the iron dragon suffered. "He needs help!"_

 _._

 _"The entire guild, and the Puppet Master... They're all gone." Wendy observed bleakly. "Did the spell backfire?"_

 _._

 _"Aria is still here, so they didn't teleport..." Gray concluded._

 _._

 _Happy whimpered softly while hovering over the unconscious man's figure, turning his gaze to face Lucy as she slowly approached Natsu._

 _._

 _"No..." Erza whimpered softly. "Neirah... She's…"_

 _._

 _"Natsu…" Lucy sobbed, laying her hand on Natsu's trembling arm as it clung to Neirah's cloak. Natsu turned and faced her as if he was surprised to see her sadness, a hopeful smile on his face as he lingered in the centre of what used to be an infinite magic circle._

 _._

 _"Gee Lucy, what're you crying for?" Lucy flinched, her eyes widening as she tipped her gaze back to where tears rolled hot over his cheeks. "With a face like that, you'd think she was dead or somethin'."_

 _._

 _"Natsu..." Happy whimpered softly, fluttering near where Wendy wept in her hands next to Carla._

 _._

 _"Come on out before Lucy loses it, Shads!" Natsu called out into the empty air, waiting a long, silent moment for a response that never came. "Time to get goin' and get back to training for the Grand Magic Games!" Lucy dropped to her knees with a desperate scream. "Ah right! You got us good!" He forced out a laugh and turned his deceptive gaze outwards. "Yo Shadow!? Quit playin' around!" He turned his trembling gaze towards the horizon, his hand by his mouth as he hollered into the night. "Let's go home…"_

 _._

 _Natsu flinched, turning his teary eyes towards Erza as she laid her hand on his shoulder, sniffling back the pain of their loss. "Please," she whispered weakly. "Gajeel is seriously wounded... We have to go..."_

 _._

 _"Sure!" He whimpered softly before blinking back at her with an enthusiastic smile. "Just gotta get Shads and we'll-" Lucy squealed as Gray raked his fist across Natsu's face mercilessly, sending the distraught fire wizard to the side._

 _._

 _"Enough!" Erza demanded through tears, watching Natsu struggle to stay on his feet. "Gray, what do you think you're d-?!"_

 _._

 _"We lost, ok?!" Gray roared. His denied gaze was dark with restrained emotion. "We were too late to save her," he shouted boldly. He threw his finger out towards Gajeel's motionless body. "But we can save him!" Finally, he raised his head and let the crystalline glitter of his tears catch in the courtyard's fading light. "Can we handle that much!?" Gray flinched as Natsu hit his knees, clutching Neirah's cloak in defeat. The earth trembled with the devastating call of the fire dragon that night as the rain washed away any trace of hope he had and Fairy Tail's strongest team returned to the guild that night less one shadow dragon slayer._

.

* * *

 _._

Neirah stared into the shower tiles, her vacant gaze wide as the water poured over her skin. The night before seemed like a vague memory, fading by the second. It was too perfect, she held it too close to heart. "Is that… what I really want?" She whispered her words lightly, holding her hand to her heart where Fairy Tail's insignia used to set. She clenched her fingertips to hold onto the memory. "To go home?"

 _._

* * *

.

 _She woke suspended in a crimson pool, her body burning and mind racing. 'W-where am I?' She thought internally as her eyes slowly fluttering open. 'Am I...?' She winced and threw her head back, her body tight with the pain of battles past. 'No. I hurt so badly that death would be comforting...' She opened her eyes again, but barely during round two. 'What has he done to me?' A cascade of painful memories pierced her tired mind like a spear of blinding light, illuminating the truth of her circumstance. 'Where are the others? Did they survive?' She recalled the image of her friends falling around her as she screamed and tears started to roll over her cheeks until they met bared teeth through her pained grimace._

 _._

 _'I-It burns…' Her eyes widened as she struggled to retain her emotions and her hands started to tremble as she clenched her fists. She tipped her head back again and stared above her to where the pool darkened. 'This scent… This… presence… Why does it comfort me?'_

 _._

 _'_ _Their blood, why? What has he done?!' Her lips parted softly as they relaxed and she stared into what seemed to be memories that didn't belong to her._

 _._

 _"_ _Wind, shadow and light, fire and poison, lightning… iron."_

 _._

 _She heard the voice, but she couldn't comprehend the direction in which it came from. She continued to stare towards the darkening of the pool until her attention caught a shadow before her, dimming the crimson pool like they were watching her from outside a prison._

 _._

 _Her gaze flashed as the Puppet Master's silhouette reached her state of comprehension. 'You!' Neirah sealed her eyes tight and meditated on her inner strength for a moment of silence, letting a plethora of thoughts wash over her. 'It's him…' A solitary tear joined the fluid around her. 'His blood… You… killed him…' Her eyes flew open gold and as hot as the pool of dragon's blood she'd waded in, her pupils narrowing to slits as the newly awakened infinite dragon slayer emerged. 'Ryverika.'_

 _._

 _"She survived," the Puppet Master hummed in approval. "I was beginning to doubt that she'd rise, but it seems you were right, Karua. That daughter of yours has proved most useful to me."_

 _._

 _"This still doesn't guarantee your success," Karua warned him cautiously. His gaze followed the absent observance of Marionette members scampering around them. "The last person who suffered this ritual ended up going mad until death took them. Neirah's mind is delicate, I fear for her life." His admittance was grim, as he cast his attention indirectly to the other dark guild members hovering anxiously nearby. "Even under the influence of your manipulative magic's strings, using her outside of her intended purpose will be risky and ultimately dangerous."_

 _._

 _"I'm well aware of what happened to the first. But Neirah trained with the beast himself and now we have his blood. Even though they didn't make it far due to her vulnerable state, it could be just the boost we need," Puppet Master muttered softly. He rested his hand against the lacrima encasing Neirah's body. "The first was weak. Neirah was more powerful before the ritual was ever attempted."_

 _._

 _Karua watched him suspiciously as he spoke, trying to dismiss the others around them as they pried nosily into details. "You sound so sure," he added apprehensively._

 _._

 _"Of course I'm sure," he rumbled sternly. "He was my son."_

 _._

 _Karua flew backwards in panic when the shattering of the lacrima crystal pierced the silence that had taken them with the expulsion of the truth. "She's awake!" He cried out in fear just as much as relief. The Puppet Master took a step back, a sinister and triumphant smile on his face as his maniacal laughter filled the astounded guild hall._

 _._

 _"Yes! It worked! I've done i-" He cried out the moment Neirah struck him, his face burning like she'd coated him in acid. "N-no! Why!? How has she escaped my control so soon!?" Neirah wailed out loud in pain and fury as her hate for their guild master burned inside her. Before she knew it, a flaming fist was connecting with the man's frail figure aside from the hand that grasped his throat. "This can't be happening!" He roared through the poisoned flame, his body breaking beneath Neirah's rage. Karua cowered far from the spectacle as he watched the desecration of the Marionette guild master. The other members had begun to flee while Neirah's wrath turned inward and she fought desperately to claw off the Marionette guild sign resting on her hip._

 _._

 _"_ _No… GET IT OFF!" She screeched, golden eyes wide with hate and fear. It was only after she'd removed it that she took a moment to observe her surroundings again. "Gajeel- WHERE IS MY BROTHER!?" Neirah watched her violet-scaled hands tremble while poison hissed at her feet, eating away at the flesh of her enemy. Ebony claws shone behind golden flames as fire faded from her forearms and left her to watch as abilities that were never her own passed before her comprehension. "Na-Natsu?" Tears streamed down her face as golden eyes paled and ran cold with her devastation. "I-It can't... be..." Wide-eyed, she threw her injured hands into her hair, her scalp burning with her grip as she struggled to process what had happened to her during nights passed. Memories of battling against her fellow dragon slayers, practising their abilities, passed through her mind and forced her to her knees. 'Gajeel, Laxus... Natsu.'_

 _._

 _She sealed her eyelids and forced hot tears over her cheeks as she trembled in rage. "Ryverika... what are you trying to tell me...?!" Her hands ached painfully from where her body had been shocked by the presence of her new abilities, but she didn't dare to whimper. "Gajeel..." She slowly let her arms fall into her lap. "No," she gasped out helplessly. She threw her head back and bared carnivorous teeth as she wailed her denial into the darkness of the vacant guild around her. The pillar of golden light that scorched the sky and demolished the fortress around her was blinding in the still of the night as the sound of the awakened infinite dragon filled the air._  
.

* * *

.

Her thoughts wouldn't silence no matter how hard she tried to encourage it and suddenly, she missed the distraction she was offered the night before. She knew that Alvarez was approaching the guild that she held dearly in regard, but that wasn't what frightened her. "Am I wrong to be so afraid of myself that I can't fear impending war? Wrong to consider returning before my duty is done simply to escape it with the easy way out?" She sealed her eyes tight and shook her head. "The magic of our guild, it's heart… we're one in the same." Her nails sank into her left breast as tears started to flow down the drain with the soapy water. She couldn't help but cringe, feeling a deeply seated draw to Fairy Tail's halls like she'd always belonged. "Infinite…"

.

'I took some of their strongest wizards away… leaving them to wait for the enemy to bang on their door.' She drew back her fist, the instant reaction of coating it with steel scales preparing it to strike the shower wall, but moments before her swift strike could land, she was halting a hair's length away from the tile. She shook her damp hair from her face fiercely. 'No, I didn't take them away, they came on their own! It's where they wanted to be!' She sniffed back her sorrow with a trembling lower lip. "By my side…"

.

She heaved a heavy sigh and turned off the water, only narrowly deciding that cranking it to below freezing maybe wasn't the best idea for her shot nerves. 'No, I can't allow Reku's resurrection. If a creature born of Ryverika's power was to walk this earth, not even Alvarez would stand a chance. It would bring dragons to war… Damion has been keeping an eye on the situation… Alvarez doesn't see a threat in us. They'll come at their leisure.' She thrust the shower curtain the side and glared at her fierce amber gaze's reflection in the mirror. "And that will be their final mistake."

.

She didn't have time for relaxation so she loosely towel-dried her hair and let the damp curls bounce freely at her back. They'd dry on their own with the trip back to the guild, but not the right guild... She expelled a languid sigh and stared back at her reflection in the mirror, as naked as the day she came into the world. She was still covered in little bruises and cuts, but she wasn't feeling in any immediate pain. Zade had completely overwhelmed her the morning before, and if it hadn't been for Laxus, she wouldn't be standing in the mirror counting scratches.

.

She reached out and laid her fingers on her lower abdomen where the memories of him holding her hand in the same spot the night before still burned. She didn't know how to feel about – about any of it. She wrapped both hands around herself and just held onto the memory, closing her eyes to cherish the warmth it filled her with.

.

It had been so long since she'd first met the lonely boy in the market, her first human interaction. When Ryverika had told her to hold one memory dear that day, she had no idea it would lead her to where she stood naked in a room with the man he'd become. Ryverika's Prince of Fairy Tail, the unintentional herald of the late dragon's will. All the while, Laxus hadn't known a thing about it. All he had to do was live his life, and her feet did the rest.

.

Could he ever know how truly important he was to her very existence?

.

She flinched as the gentle patter of her tear hitting the tiles beneath her feet roused her senses. She had been so overwhelmed with his need for her attention the night before that she never really gave him the reaction he seemed to seek. She had said the words, that she loved him, but she didn't feel like it was enough. It felt hollow. She felt like, maybe, love had been robbed from her by Kairyn, by her fate.

.

'All this time, you made yourself out to be the beast begging for love,' she thought emptily. She turned her gaze back to her sad smile in the mirror. 'But could _you_ love a monster?'

.

She tore her gaze away and scooped up a towel, wrapping it modestly around her breasts. Infinity Dragon had a purpose that she would give her life to fulfil. Reku, the Golden Dragon Divine, the harbinger of the end times, could not take shape in their world again. Ryverika was the one and only infinite dragon, and with his time past, she ushered in the age of humanity. They and they alone would be the ones to decide their fates; with no impending apocalypse looming overhead. She only hoped that once Austalian cultists were exterminated, once Phantom Lord, Marionette and Ghoul Knight had been laid to waste, humanity would start to appreciate the life that Ryverika had gifted them for decades.

.

Infinite power was not meant to be used to control the hearts and spirits of men by fear. It was simply a precautional judgment, one that should have been passed during Acnologia's reign 400 years past. But Ryverika stayed his hand. He believed in them.

.

In her.

.

She had to as well. She would see that his power was never used in such an atrocious manner, everything else came second. With Reku's demise, everything else would fall into place. Alvarez could wait…

.

Fairy Tail… could wait.

.

Her heart…

.  
She stepped out of the bathroom, not really surprised that Laxus was awake. She had to admit that she was overcome with a sense of insecurity. For a minute, she just stared at his back, her gaze studying the twist of the tribal ink peeking out on his shoulder beneath the bandage wrapped around his torso. He was sitting on the bed and staring distantly out the window into the port. The tension had noticeably returned to his battle-weary figure, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about for it to do so.

.

She breathed out a gentle sigh before finding her clothes and deciding that, to avoid anymore complications with Infinity Dragon's purpose, the night before was better left a memory. "Good morning," she ignored the sight of him perking in the corner of her eye. He narrowly glanced back over his shoulder but didn't turn. "I hope you slept well. We have a lot to do today."

.

"Always in charge," he muttered grimly. He returned his gaze out towards the port. It was too early to admit that her confident authority turned him on. "I suppose it was too much thinkin' breakfast would be waitin' for me." He flinched to attention as she shuffled by and tossed him his shirt.

.

"We can pick something up from the market on our way back to the guild," she demanded in authority. "We've kept the other's waiting long enough. Hopefully, Frost and Wavebreak will have been able to track down Zade since your battle with him yesterday-" Neirah's flared gaze shot to him as he stood and grabbed her firmly by the arm, halting her subconsciously anxious prattling.

.

"Yea, let's talk about that for a minute." His narrowed gaze was stern as his tightened grip fought her struggle. "Did that asshole completely override your sense of life?"

.

"What are you talking about?"

.

 _Could she sound any colder?_

.

He scoffed and diverted his attention only for it to fall right back to her. "Kairyn," he confirmed bitterly. "He may have been a lifeless robot with one purpose in life, but that's not you."

.

"It's me as long as it has to be!" She defended her late first with enthusiasm. "Kairyn understood that life isn't a game! He would never throw it away as rashly as someone like you!"

.

He hadn't held his own life in the highest of regards, true, but the way she immediately took another's side to hurt him made his heart ache. "He gave it up for me," he reminded her heatedly. "If that wasn't rash, tell me why I'm still here?"

.

"Because I need you!" She didn't mean for such a tender sentiment to break past her lips so corrosively. It took her a moment to process the reality of what she'd said. If it hadn't been for Laxus, she never would have come back to them, to him. Her life would have been entirely forfeit. As strongly as Kairyn embedded her purpose, his goal was never to see her lose the humanity that Ryverika cherished until his last dying breath.

.

Laxus released her to her trajectory, silently hoping that her revelation would help to ground her. "You've got a funny way of showing it," he admitted bleakly. He turned away to slide his shirt over his stiff shoulders.

.

Neirah knotted her face, trying desperately to deny her fretful tears. She'd given him everything the night before, her pain, her fear, her love. There was so little he didn't know. She didn't need to remind him. He had always paid attention to the little things.

.

When Laxus had finished straightening his shirt, he felt the gentle pressure of Neirah's brow propped between his shoulders, the act forcing him to expel an exasperated sigh.

.

"I'm sorry," she whispered bleakly. "We still have a lot to do…"

.

"I get that," he reassured her softly while remaining still beneath her words.

.

"A night of forgetting about it only helped it to overwhelm me this morning," she reasoned. "But I… I don't regret it."

.

Laxus slowly turned and smiled down at her as she looked back at him with her own bleak smile. "That's all I needed to know…"

.

Neirah's cheeks flushed and just as she was about to turn away, she turned back to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, his neck a little too much of a stretch for her tired body. She had just managed to place a reassuring kiss on his bandaged chest before his hand was on her face.

.

They didn't have anything else to say on the matter as he drew her lips to his for one slow kiss. It wasn't going to be easy for either of them to conceal their elevated state of companionship, but both knew the cost of being forthcoming. The world on either end had been plunged into chaos, all sides waiting for the hammer to drop. Their job was to be ready when it did.

.

Even though their lips parted, Laxus' eyes remained closed as he absorbed her comforting presence. "I'm sick for you," he admitted audaciously in a hoarse whisper.

.

Neirah slipped away from his gentle kiss, immediately regretting feeding the flame that carried over from the night before. She kept her forehead braced against his and slowly stroked his lips with gentle fingertips. "When this is over," she whispered weakly. "I swear I'll help make this real."

.

"I _will_ hold you to that." He reached out and slipped his fingers through her damp hair, fanning his favourite scent from her soft skin with its stir. "That's a promise too."

.

"My brother and I usually make _deals_ ," she whispered spiritedly. "That way we don't have to worry about breaking our promises."

.

Laxus gently shook his head as he drew her into a gentle kiss for the last time before the darkness swelled around their lives again. He watched her reach down and tie a bandana around the thigh marked by her Infinity Dragon guild mark, certainty in his gaze as it lingered on the woman he finally knew loved him back. The weight of worlds was lifted off his chest that morning and a feeling of invincibility overcame him. "I don't run that way," he encouraged by returning her confident smile with his own. "And I'm not afraid of breaking it."

.

"Good," she whispered with bated breath. "Then let's see Heaven's Rain back to the front lines."

.

"Let's."

.

* * *

.

Neirah slipped her hood up over her head to conceal her flushed cheeks just as Laxus closed the door to the room they had stayed in the night before. "Not going to lie, this is awkward." She cringed when she met a whispering couple walking through the hallway, forced to hang her head in shame. "Yep. Absolutely humiliating."

.

"Well maybe if you weren't such a wildcat in the sack," he teased. "I don't think I've ever had so many scratches on my _ass_."

.

Neirah whirled around and shoved her fists down at her sides, her face as red as the inn's walls. "I swear to infinity if you don't shut up I will find a window and throw you out of it!"

.

Laxus' gaze narrowed vacantly on the low chattering of other patrons in the hostel. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling, like his sex life with Neirah was the least of their concerns. "Sure," he dismissed.

.

Neirah could sense that he was uneasy, the thought made _her_ uneasy. She shuffled her way to the innkeeper and let them know they were checking out. "Oh, and uhm, I'd like to apologise in advance but… we might've left a teensy tiny mess back there." She smiled awkwardly, being waved along by the woman behind the desk like she didn't want to share words with her at all.

.

"Huh… kind of… rude…" Neirah returned to Laxus' side with her face in a curious knot. "Ok, you've done this before, Sparky. Am I just really conspicuous or does this always happen when you get with a woman?"

.

He didn't seem to bite her bait. "I think we've got bigger problems," he silently observed. "This place is practically shutting down… Everyone seems to be leaving."

.

Neirah's heart sank as she observed his truth, patrons filing out of the inn by the crowds. "It is strange. I know people tend to rise earlier when they're staying away from home, but I'm worried. They just started lighting the fires. It's barely dawn," she admitted softly. "We'd better move then. We might be needed somewhere." She started towards the door with the rest of the clientele. "Joko was saying that things got bad around here at night. Is it possible we were framed again?"

.

Laxus turned his bleak expression her way from where he'd observed the time behind the desk of the innkeeper. "Well, I'll give you a clue," he rumbled dismally as they stepped through the foyer of the inn. "I woke up smelling smoke, thinking that dawn was comin' around."

.

"There's a lot of tradesmen in this town, of course it-"

.

"It's noon."

.

Neirah's eyes were wide saucers of terror as she clued into his theory. "Fire…"

.

"And I doubt it's friendly."

.

Neirah's steps grew swifter as they exited the building and looked out into the street. The waterfront was clear, there seemed to be no damage. But when they turned to face the road that would take them into the heart of the town to the usually bustling markets of Lysar, Neirah's heart shattered. "No…"

.

Her feet carried her instinctively towards the damage, her heart aching for the sound of tears rising over the sea. Not only had the marketplace been destroyed with half of the town, but there were casualties, and as she grew closer, her nose could smell it. Decay, and burning human flesh.

.

"Impossible," she denied in alarm. "How could they have caused this much damage without us noticing?! We were right here! Not even a mile from the commotion!" Laxus bowed his head towards the pavement, and at first, she thought it was because he was grieving. As it turned out, he wasn't.

.

"I'll tell you exactly why. We weren't meant to." He pressed his shoe back into the pave stones a step behind them and watched runes flutter to life along the street. "An open enchantment. Freed used to use these things when my music was too loud and he was trying to sleep. People can move through them without a problem but it's perfectly capable of distorting things like sounds or smells." He raised his gaze to the smoking city. "This was just a warning."

.

Neirah clenched her jaw until she thought her teeth might crack under the pressure. "Zade…" She denied her tears entirely, too livid to let her grievance spill from her eyes. "He must still be alive."

.

"Neirah…"

.

Neirah turned her flickering amber gaze to where Laxus had encouraged her attention, the tears becoming harder to conceal as she saw a familiar face dusted with debris beneath a fallen building.

.

"Grandpa! Grandpa, get up!"

.

Neirah wanted to scream as a young girl tugged at Joko's motionless body by his shirt, trying their best to pull the old fisherman from beneath his shopfront. She ran towards them, her vision blurring with her tears as they threatened. The man had been so kind and happy the day before, he couldn't be gone.

.

She reached out and took the hands of the frantic child, encouraging her from Joko's side. The little girl fought, but one thing the little one couldn't deny was that everyone else had their own loved ones to help. No one had time for her. "Stay back, please," Neirah begged a little more desperately than she wanted to let on to the child. "We're going to help you." The girl looked back at her with large, glossy eyes full of hope, an expression she was incredibly weak to.

.

The girl shuddered with a startled yelp when Laxus reached out and took a hold of the timber that had collapsed on top of Joko. What he didn't expect, was the painful hiss of its presence. The weight was too much for him to toss so he simply winced and ground his teeth in bearing. "Neirah, get him out."

.

She nodded swiftly and released the little girl. "Here, help me pull him out, ok?"

.

"Ok." The little girl quickly agreed, taking a hold of the round man and pulling like her effort was actually aiding in his retrieval.

.

Neirah could sense that something was wrong with the weight of Laxus' breathing so she hurried along her way. As soon as Joko was clear of the debris, she looked back over her shoulder and gave him a nod of approval. "He's out, let it go," she ordered.

.

Laxus released the debris with a pained hiss, a bitter curse on his lips. "Fu-s-damn it…" He tried his best to censor his language with the young girl nearby, but later he admitted that she likely couldn't hear him over her fretful tears anyway. He took a moment to observe the desecrated buildings around them. The smoke rising from patches throughout the city were few and far between. The city hadn't been burnt, it had been melted. Corrosion ate at the buildings, deteriorating them until nothing but a plague of rot remained. The fires must have sprouted from ovens and forges that had been collapsed upon.

.

He looked back down at his hand and winced as it started to burn again. 'Shit… I'm gettin' real sick of bein' right.'

.

"Miss! Is he going to be ok?! Please, help him! Please save my grandpa!"

.

Neirah laid her hands on the little girl's shoulder to gently encourage her back. "Yes, he's still breathing. He's just hurt," she assured her tenderly. "Can you go get others from your family to help him?"

.

The girl shook her head frantically, attracting both Laxus and Neirah's attention. "It's just me and him. Me and my grandpa."

.

Laxus' brow creased dismally as the child fretted. Watching Neirah heal Joko encouraged him to wrap his hand until they could discuss the matter further.

.

Neirah's expression warmed with relief as Joko's hearty cough reverberated through the rank air triumphantly.

.

"Grandpa!" The girl cried happily, throwing her arms around the jolly man.

.

Joko had barely opened his eyes. His skin was terribly burnt despite the lack of fire surrounding his prison. When he looked up at Neirah from the flat of his back, she was touched by the smile he managed to offer her. "Miss Neirah… I'm so glad yer safe, lassie. When the town started fallin', I feared the worst for you."

.

"Joko," she murmured bleakly. Her eyes glossed with the overwhelming presence of her tears.

.

"Laxus? Where is'e? Is the boy alright?"

.

Neirah nodded her head, her smile tight but present. "He's here. He's fine."

.

Joko looked past to where Laxus had taken a stance behind Neirah, relief in his marred features as he smiled. "What a relief."

.

"Joko, can you tell us what happened?" She murmured gently. She tried not to force too much responsibility on a man who was narrowly clinging to life. "Who did this to you?"

.

There was a terror washing over his pale features that Neirah didn't think was possible for the old ship sailor. "I'm afraid you've come too late, miss Neirah…" He closed his eyes, his arms coming around his trembling granddaughter. "In the night, they came, the dragons. They descended in the night." He looked back up at her with a bleak smile. "Hate ta say it, but I don't… I don't think even Fairy Tail can save us now…"

.

Neirah's heart shattered, her resolve shaken by the devastation wrought by their enemy claiming to be them. Her attention was stolen swiftly by Laxus' palm as it pressed against her shoulder. Seeing a look of concern on his features, she left Joko and his granddaughter for a moment to console him. "You have that look," she fretted. "What's wrong?"

.

"I need you to look at this," he encouraged grimly. He led her to the rubble that was once Joko's storefront. He knelt by the timber he'd moved to help rescue the fisherman. "I need you to take a look at the shit rotting this wood. It wasn't burned with fire."

.

Neirah reached out to touch the wood but before she could, Laxus was snatching her hand away with a fierceness unbridled. She looked down to where his bandaged hand held her arm. "Laxus, what happened?"

.

"You need to be careful," he cautioned her sternly. "I think this is the same thing that was on that sword of his."

.

All colour flushed from Neirah's face in an instant. "In your chest wound?"

.

He nodded.

.

Neirah's wide and terrorised gaze roamed over the entire district with a panicked gasp. "Laxus! If that's true, this entire city is doomed to simply rot away!"

.

"Makin' me feel pretty damn lucky right now."

.

Neirah couldn't focus. The sounds of sobs and agonised cries filled her heart with sorrow. She glanced over at a contaminated Joko, her heart heavy knowing that soon, there would be nothing left. Phantom Lord was one brand of evil, the financial and administrative backbone of the allegiance that worked for the Austalian cultists. Marionette was something entirely different. They toyed with their enemies, manipulated them, tortured them even. They made Jose's contributions to the allegiance look meek.

.

Then there was Zade, Ghoul Knight's relentless master. A master of death, of desolation. He didn't play games, he didn't toy with his enemies. He killed them. And if he wasn't sure that death was a certainty, he made it one by desecrating the corpse. Zade was hoping the sword through Laxus' chest would end his life, but if it didn't, he was likely certain that the disease on the blade would do it for him.

.

She looked back at Laxus hopelessly. "I- I can't heal them all," she surrendered devastatingly.

.

He could offer no comfort. Instead, he silently unbound his hand and shielded it from the view of their company. Her wide and trembling stare met it on the last few passes and he silently held it for her to examine. "I got it off that building… It's starting to look a hell of a lot like all the spots on the old man…"

.

"Laxus…" She immediately took his hand in hers. She'd recognized the poison from the night before. Luckily, it was still external so she was quite capable of purifying it just by cupping his fingers. "This whole town… It will spread worse than a fire ever could… And nothing… nothing will be left of it…"

.

Neirah quickly turned to Joko's granddaughter and instilled urgency in her youthful being. "Sweetie, I need you to do something very important for your grandfather. Ok?"

.

The girl gave her her complete attention.

.

"I need you to take him to a wizard guild as quickly as possible."

.

The little girl bobbed her head frantically. "But which one? There're so man-"

.

"Take him to Fairy Tail."

.

* * *

.

Neirah held her fingers to her eyes as they walked away from the devastated cries of the city, her heart heavy with grief. "Why do I feel like this is my fault?" She whimpered softly, dropping her hands to look at the road ahead. "Those people… they have no hope of surviving… and I'm walking away." She flexed her fists at her side. "I'm walking away, I'm walking awa- I could have at least tried to save a few of them!"

.

"And how would you decide which ones got lucky when they all came to you crying and beggin' for your help? How would you tell them no? Kids, families… Not to mention you could put yourself out for weeks usin' up that kind of power. You're just not…" He quickly pondered the execution of his words. It wasn't that she was weak, but something else was interfering with her magic. "You still get sick when you overdo it and you overdo it a lot. Then what if Zade decided to pop up on our way back? He obviously knew where we were last night. We're lucky he didn't kill us in our sleep…" He sighed grimly. "You acting all noble is what he's countin' on." For someone who claimed not to take pleasure in games, he sure liked to torment people. "And I gotta be honest, I'm not sure I'd be up for a one-on-one with that creep in the state I'm in…"

.

Laxus shook his head. "No, you're doing the right thing. You used up the medical supplies we picked up yesterday to wrap up the old man for his granddaughter and then sent her to the only place that could help," he assured her calmly. He turned to watch over her as she walked by his side in agony. "You're doing what you have to."

.

"What if they don't make it to Wendy?" She whimpered softly. "What if there's nothing they can do to save the ci-"

.

Laxus turned and took a hold of her shoulders, bringing his fretful companion to a staggering halt. "Then a few more people die." He hated the look of shock that washed over her expression. He didn't mean for it to sound so cruel. "If we don't keep our feet movin' on the path we have to take, a hell of a lot more will follow."

.

Neirah wanted to scream, the act of bottling it inside her making her grim silence extend and her stomach churn.

.

He released the settled girl and heaved a heavy sigh, adjusting the strap on his shoulder that carried what remained of their purchases in town before disaster struck. "As a Fairy Tail wizard, there was probably more you could have done to save a couple lives." He turned back and looked over his shoulder at the conflicted woman. "As the Infinity Dragon guild master, you made the decision that nobody else could have."

.

She watched him continue his way down the path that would lead them back to their shabby little guild, the path they'd chosen. It's true, in the vast scale of things, an apocalyptic dragon's resurrection seemed to make the sacrifice of a small town look like nothing. Even if she didn't have the power to save all of them, she could have saved some. But would that have been enough? She bowed her head solemnly. And would it be worth the magically induced coma she put herself in to do it? 'If only I had… just a little more control…'

.

She had barely managed to treat the small amount of contaminant on Laxus' wound. The festering disease would be incurable with human medicine and by infecting a human body, it would spread ten times as quickly. The stronger magical resistance a person had, the better chance they had at fighting it. In Laxus' case, the miracle of his survival wasn't so much hers for saving him, but his for being powerful and inhumanly durable. The grievous wounds that Joko had suffered would spread like wildfire and she worried that by the time he made it to Wendy, it would already be too late. 'Stay strong, Joko…'

.

She turned and looked over her shoulder at the town's smouldering remains as Zade's organic deterioration magic ate away at its infrastructure. It was a completely innocent town, filled with wonderful, kind-hearted people; people like Joko. They didn't have a wizarding guild or many wizards in town to look after them. They had lived a peaceful existence for as long as Infinity Dragon had been using them as a trading post for supplies. Over the past year, Zade had been framing her guild with the presence of his pet dragon, the rat that he was capable of changing into the large scaly beast. Even Zade wasn't powerful enough to change his furry little friend into a full-scale version of the mythological creature, but to a village that had never seen the true power of mighty wings unfurled, it was believable enough.

.

"Are you coming?"

.

Neirah spun and looked back at Laxus waiting for her on the horizon. As someone who grew up with Fairy Tail and the righteous wizards of it, he knew best that someone like Natsu would have risked Reku's resurrection in a heartbeat in order to save the people of the village, but she wasn't Natsu. She was Neirah Ahrai, Infinity Empress and master of a guild sworn to the purpose of stopping Austalia's remnants at all costs; Laxus knew that, she knew that. Natsu could take care of the city.

.

She had a Ghoul Night master to exterminate like the pestilence he spread.

.

* * *

.

"WAH! Make her come back, my big fluffy knight! She's been gone too long! Little NeiNei is so worried!"

.

"Crap!" Gajeel exclaimed bitterly. He tried desperately to shake the miniature Neirah from his arm. "I ain't yer freaking man so get the hell off me before I deck you!"

.

The child looking version of Neirah's eyes glowed as she marvelled at his audacity. "My husband was never so bold." She began to pet his arm with her swelling affection. "So brave and strong!"

.

Gajeel stepped to the side and watched the loli faceplant in the mud. "Fuck, it's like some crazy mutant fusion of my baby sister and Juvia," he hissed.

.

"She just misses her husband from Edolas." Pantherlily sipped his beverage in casually amused observance. "It just so happens, you're the Earthland version of him."

.

Gajeel threw his arm out and pointed at the whining child-looking woman. "Ain't no way Edo me would do something so stupid like marry _that_! He was way too chill!"

.

"Did so!" Edo Nei screeched, shoving her wedding band in his face. "And he loves me! He would never do something so cruel like leave me behind while he goes off to fight a nearly impossible battle!"

.

Gajeel's gaze flashed furiously as the loli overstepped her boundaries. Lily's attention was drawn grimly as Gajeel's demeanour switched in an instant. Even if their Edolas Neirah was a carbon copy of the baby sister he left behind when he took the S-Class trials that saw him torn from her for seven long years, it wouldn't save her from the overstep she had just offended him with. "What did you say…?"

.

Neirah shuttered in alarm, the malicious darkening of his expression enough to silence the entire camp. It was common knowledge that Gajeel had been ultimately distracted by the fact that the woman he loved was currently miles away from where he was. He had left her behind with a note, one that was lax in detail. He knew Levy would roast him alive when they met again, but he also knew that the smart little thing she was would chase after him if he was too specific. Seeing her safe with Fairy Tail is what promised 'again'.

.

"Gajeel…" Pantherlily began to reason, hoping to prevent a conflict. Edolas Neirah may have been irksome, but she was there because Kairyn saw how useful she could be. Her near undetectable shapeshifting abilities made her an asset for infiltration, it was how they were able to monitor the situations surrounding them without fail.

.

Suddenly, Arihana's ears perked and the silver-haired maiden was raising her alert gaze to the edge of the clearing they sat in at the base of their mountain. "Empress…" The small fire crackled as they prepared supper. Damion raised his lazy gaze before scoffing at the sight of Laxus breaking through the trees. Before words could be exchanged, he took his food up from his lap and dismissed himself from their company.

.

"NeiNei!"

.

Neirah's stern gaze wandered to where her tiny counterpart trounced through the earth and threw her arms around her waist.

.

"I came back, but you weren't here! I was so worried."

.

Neirah was tossed into flashbacks of the day when she appeared the same age as the girl in her arms, blotching Macao with tears in her eyes as she begged for her big brother's return. She was struck with guilt all over again. No matter what she seemed to do, her decision always hurt the people around her. It was something she didn't know if she could bear for much longer.

.

Arihana rose and took to her side, her gentle features as soft and vacant as ever. "It lifts the heart to see that Laxus seems to have made a full recovery under your watch, Master," she admired.

.

"Not mine," Wavebreak chided from the distance he'd put between them.

.

Gajeel turned his head with a conspicuous sniff, his gaze narrowing as he drew near to Laxus. He sniffed again, his suspicious side-glare meeting the lightning dragon. "You smell like my sister," he threatened in observance.

.

Laxus' gaze was mellowed with impatience. "Get used to it, creep," was the threat he offered in return.

.

Arihana quietly approached her master with a debriefing. "As you can see, the small Neirah has returned with information on the situation with Alvarez. They still seem content waiting to make their move. Zeref seems to have taken to another small task before his war takes to the seas of-"

.

"The port of Lysar has been destroyed," Neirah muttered grimly. She had successfully roused the attention of the remainder of her small guild. "When we woke this morning, the better part of the town had rotted away beneath a plague of decay. Even the wood and iron began to corrode."

.

"Zade…" Arihana whispered bleakly. "That must mean that he survived."

.

"It was the same poison I had to extract from Laxus' wound last night. It had spread and the cut had almost doubled in size. It's why we spent the night."

.

"Then his extermination has begun," Damion observed upon rejoining them. He stuffed his hands deep in his cargo pant pockets and waddled into their midst. "The creeps gotta agenda to keep, a'ight."

.

"What exactly does that mean?" Lily pried.

.

"It means, he's tryin' ta bring back a draggy that's been dead for a long time. Sorta. He's tryin' ta make it better. If he resurrects Ryverika's essence inta the first, he's gonna feel like he's got control of it, at least, in part."

.

"And he can't bring it back without sacrifices."

.

The water wizard turned to bob his head in agreement with Gajeel, snapping back his thumb and forefinger like a shot. "Bingo. And lots of 'em."

.

"It's fucking Avatar all over again…" Gajeel muttered grimly.

.

"But on a scale ten times larger," Arihana assured them. "Master Ry- Master Kairyn spent almost a decade chasing down the Austalian's plans. Back when Karua was still alive, they had already eradicated entire cities and replaced them with puppets so that few people on the outside would notice that anything in the lesser communities was amiss. The only ones who could tell that they weren't alive are people with enhanced senses and animals. Lysar is the first great hub that Zade had pressed to eliminate."

.

"An' I suppose I.D'll take the rap for that one too," Damion growled. "You'd better believe it."

.

"Damion," Neirah interrupted. Her stern tone swiftly attracted the dark man's attention. "You and Arihana were a part of Ghoul Knight before Kairyn found you, what are the chances that Zade has returned to the Ghoul Knight headquarters?"

.

Damion scoffed dismissively. "Tsk, nil. The guy's ruthless, not stupid. He don't play games like Karua and Jose. That's what make's 'im the worst of the three in the alliance."

.

"I understand that, but we can't keep chasing him," Neirah ordered. "I was a fool to go after him alone. I had no idea he was this powerful. I made the mistake of wanting to protect the rest of you from further exposure to him and in doing so, I almost lost one of you anyway." She threw out her hand with her command. "I can't bear this weight on my own," she demanded. "I need to know that my guild is at my back when we manage to track him down again."

.

Frost and Wavebreak didn't hesitate. "We stood by Master Kairyn, and we will stand behind you, Empress," Arihana whispered angelically. "To whatever end we are delivered."

.

"Company could be better, but I got nothin' better ta do," Damion agreed.

.

Edolas Neirah swooned. "Until the day when my beloved and I are reunited in the world I belong, I am at your beck and call."

.

Gajeel gave his arm a frantic shake to try and detach the clingy loli from it. "I AIN'T YER FREAKING BELOVED!"

.

Pantherlily gave an amused chortle. "I think you know we've been with you from the start, Shadow."

.

Neirah lowered her head with a heartwarming smile, her guilt lifting, in part. Her guild, however rogue and insignificant, really did believe in her. She turned her head slightly over her shoulder before looking up at Laxus, his gaze still wandering their camp. "And you?"

.

Laxus spared her a casually disconcerted gaze, trying not to let the shining of affection glistening in her eyes get to him. "I've got promises to keep," he rumbled certainly.

.

Her smile broadened. "Then it's settled. We move as a unit from now on," she announced while turning to face her guild. "We have one last objective as a team; to stop Reku's resurrection. Zade has made the first sacrificial offering, which means he will strike again from the shadows. Our job is to be prepared when he does. Reku needs Zade to give his spirit physical form. In the end, they will be reliant on each other's existence. If we end Zade, Reku will never see a tangible form capable of harming anyone ever again."

.

Neirah closed her eyes with a soft smile. "There's one more thing… I want to say…" Her guild quieted hesitantly with her sudden shift in tone, her authority fading into tenderness. "I didn't ask any of you to join me in this cause. You're here because you believe that we can make a difference, because you have something to protect."

.

Neirah turned to look at Frost, Wavebreak and the miniature version of herself. "Whether it's each other, a comrade's legacy, or a dream of being reunited with the one you love." She redirected her gaze to Pantherlily and Gajeel. "Or something precious to you." She shifted her peripherals to the shadow of Laxus at her back and smiled. "Or an entire guild full of family." She raised her gaze with a soft, reassuring smile. "You're all here for a reason that isn't my own, and I haven't offered you anything in return."

.

"We never asked for it, Empress," Arihana assured her kindly.

.

"I know…" Neirah reiterated. "But there are promises I would like to make before our journey falls into chaos and such sentimentalities are overlooked. Arihana, Damion, you two have been with Infinity Dragon since the start, since before I even knew it existed. You stood by Kairyn's side, and now mine… Before that, you were pawns of Zade's in a light guild that gives the rest of us a bad name. You've never been free wizards, free to work and enjoy the comforts of home with other's that share your passion. That is the first thing I want to remedy." She watched the bemusement flicker in their gazes. "I want to invite you to join Fairy Tail."

.

"C'n… c'n you do that?" Damion murmured gently. "I mean, we put them guys through a lot of trouble back when Kairyn was still with us."

.

Neirah's bold laugh made the water slayer flinch with her gusto. "Wanna know a secret?" She crooned. "My big brother trashed the place and my dork of a second used them for human cockfights. I think your transgressions are pretty minor to what has been forgiven in the past."

.

Arihana started to stifle her giggling as Gajeel's feature's flushed crimson and Laxus sighed at her back.

.

"Why doesn't that surprise me outta the zappy fucker," Damion rumbled bleakly.

.

"Yep, really helpin' my cause with these clowns," Laxus muttered at her back.

.

Neirah turned to the mirror that reflected her youth. "And Neirah, the rift that Kairyn spoke of, I believe it is out there." She watched the youthful looking woman's eyes light up hopefully, something that tugged at her heartstrings when it was her eyes that showed the emotion. "When this is over, I promise you I'll do whatever it takes to find it and send you home…"

.

The girl broke down into wails of hysteric tears through her broad smile. "Thank you! Oh, thank you, NeiNei! To be with my beloved! Just to hold him again and hear his voice!"

.

Gajeel palmed the child's head and tried to shove her away from where she clung to his waist. "It ain't me, damn it! Why don't you start actin' yer damn age, Grandma!?"

.

"And to the rest of you… when this is over…" She looked back at the marks they had replaced on their skin for her cause. Dragons, all of them, for her. "When we're done here, we're all going to go home."

.

Gajeel looked back at her sceptically. He knew that she didn't feel welcome at Fairy Tail anymore, and a part of him had always worried that he was going to lose her again. After what she had just admitted to Frost and Wavebreak though, he had hope, even if it was faint. His voice was gentle as he challenged her statement. " _All_ of us?"

.

Neirah flinched at the assertion he had made. She looked to Laxus, standing as unshakeably convinced as he ever had. She returned Gajeel's question with just as much certainty as Laxus had to offer the topic. "All of us."

.

She turned and faced the setting sun, the unfurling of her Infinity Dragon's cape billowing in the light breeze with her guild at her back. "I'm only as strong as the people who believe in me and with the six of you at my back I feel invincible," she announced. "Kairyn, Ryverika, they may have been taken from us far too soon, but their will _will_ be done." She inhaled the scent of the breeze and let it reassure her. She was drawing breath because of their sacrifices, their teamwork. "And then… we all go home to a better tomorrow."

.

She turned to face them again with a proud smile. "Zade, even Reku, they frame us with ghosts of what we are! They are imposters. Fickle shadows of _our_ pasts! In doing so, they dishonour the name of a once proud beast and us by association.

.

 _We_ are the real dragons.

.

And we have only just begun to descend."

.

* * *

.

Lucy joined Levy's side, laying a hefty stack of papers on the table that the dainty woman was working diligently at. She knew Levy was struggling to do a hundred things at once. Making their guild official again was number one, but that didn't stop her from spending a healthy amount of time searching for Fairy Tail's lost dragons. "Any luck?" Lucy interrupted.

.

Levy dropped her elbows on the table with a furious expel of breath, her fingertips rubbing her brow just above her wind readers. "Ugh, no! I can't find any trace of them!" She demanded frantically. "It's like they just vanished! I know Shadow has a bad habit of doing that, but Laxus and Gajeel have to be the most conspicuous members that could have went with her! You'd think I'd be able to dig up something." Levy nearly growled as she crinkled up the letter that Gajeel and Lily had left her. It didn't matter how many times she'd reread it and tried to decipher hidden clues, she always came up empty-handed. "Stupid useless Gajeel!"

.

"I bet if she had of taken Natsu with her we would have already found them," Lucy giggled optimistically. "All I know is that I can't believe the rumours. This rogue guild, Infinity Dragon, I know Kairyn wasn't the nicest guy, but Neirah wouldn't dare put innocent people in danger. I just know it…" The blonde's brow creased solemnly. "This Ghoul Knight… I have a hard time believing that they are a light guild."

.

Levy left one hand on her forehead and the other swiped through papers restlessly. "But it's true. I can't find any dirt on them at all." She directed Lucy's attention to a passage in a thick book of Fiore's history. "Zade DeLaria was once a member of the Imperial Army. He took up magic shortly after being dismissed from service for being too 'aggressive a tactician'."

.

"Well, that's obviously not a good thing."

.

" _No_ , but aside from that, he's completely clean. It's like that slap on the wrist was all he needed. He took up magic shortly after his dismissal and is currently a master of one of the largest wizarding factions in the entire kingdom."

.

"If he's so clean, why is Neirah fighting him?"

.

"Argh! I don't know!" Levy whined, raking her headband from her head beneath tense fingers. "And stupid Gajeel didn't say anything in his fricken letter! I swear to god next time I see him he's _dead_!" She slammed the butt of both fists into the table with her demands.

.

Lucy took a step back, her expression pale with alarm as she held up her hands in surrender. "Whoa-kay, let's not get all fired up in our new guild hall," she pleaded. Her attention was caught by a familiar face listed in a news article. She reached out and tugged at the paper to reveal the entire story. "Wait, what is this?" She encouraged while flashing the piece to Levy.

.

"That? Oh, it's Zade's statement on Jose's arrest," she dismissed casually while binding her hair beneath her headband again. "Apparently, Ghoul Knight and Phantom Lord worked together on occasion. Kind of like us and Lamia Scale."

.

Lucy had a troubled look on her features as she read the article. "Shortly after the dissolving of the well-known wizarding guild, Phantom Lord, Zade DeLaria was seen visiting with Phantom's ex-master Jose Porla."

.

"Hm?" Levy turned to face her curiously. "Bring back bad memories…?"

.

Lucy's gaze narrowed on the article. "Well… sort of," she assured her friend softly. "Maybe useful ones."

.

"What is it Lu?"

.

"Juvia helped a lot when we were trying to figure out who was actually behind Marionette's attacks. It turned out that the man posing as Neirah's father was playing a twisted Jekyll and Hyde scheme on the entire Marionette guild when he acted as himself and also the guild's leader who they called the Puppet Master. He did it all through mind control."

.

Levy thought about her words carefully before it started to ring a bell. "Oh yeah, Gajeel was saying something about that while we were on the council. When they went to search for Neirah right after everyone heard that dragon's roar. He said she'd melted the Puppet Master up pretty bad and it turned out the poor guy was under Karua's control all along."

.

"Yeah…" Lucy sighed out bleakly. "It was a mess…" She returned her attention to the article. "Juvia was the one who helped us find them. When Gajeel was still a part of Phantom, he had already kind of adopted Neirah. She followed him everywhere, _except_ the guild."

.

"So, she was never a member of Phantom?"

.

"Nope. Gajeel didn't want her around the place at all," Lucy informed. "But one day, Neirah got hurt pretty bad by a rivalled guild. She was just a kid. Gajeel didn't know what to do so he asked Juvia to care for her while he –"

.

"While he went and absolutely destroyed the guild responsible!" Levy concluded.

.

"Uh, yeah actually."

.

"Shad's told me the story a little over a year ago, just after the Grand Magic Games," she assured the celestial wizard. "Alright, I'm totally on the same page now."

.

"Right," Lucy nodded. "Well, Juvia overheard some things said that night while she was caring for little Neirah."

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _What is your name?" Neirah flinched and turned her vacant expression back to the woman bandaging her wounds. She fiddled with her hands in her lap for a moment with a diverted gaze before answering._

 _._

 _"_ _My name is Shadow," she offered in a weak voice. "What's yours?"_

 _._

 _"_ _It is Juvia, the rain woman," she added equally as quietly. "I apologise if my rain has made you ill. It follows me as I go. Drip, drip, drop."_

 _._

 _"_ _It's ok," Neirah assured her softly. She cradled her bandaged arm to her chest in thought. "I'm always sick, it's no one's fault." She turned her gaze to face Juvia's empty one, but just as Ryverika had taught, she still offered the woman a friendly smile. "I actually love the rain." Her soft assurance was successfully bringing colour to a surprised rain wizard. Neirah reached over to her bag of belongings and pulled out her canvas papers to show the woman. "I like to paint pictures outside when it's raining." She flipped open to one of her favourite landscapes painted in the rain. "Sc- I mean… Big brother gets angry with me for being so silly, but I still love watching the colours wash over the canvas… so full of life… I know they look a little strange..." Neirah assured her as she shrugged with rosy features. "But they make me happy."_

 _._

 _"_ _Big… brother… Gajeel?"_

 _._

 _Neirah turned her startled gaze back to the woman to clarify. "Uh, well, you see… he's not really my brother… He just… looks after me, I guess," she trailed off solemnly. "He probably hasn't mentioned me…"_

 _._

 _"Oh, well, we do not necessarily speak much." Juvia sighed softly and offered the young girl a blanket. "Juvia was actually surprised that he asked her to care for you. It is unlike him to be so trusting..." Juvia felt her heart break as little tears rose in the eyes of her young friend. "You love him very much if Juvia is not mistaken." She watched Neirah's face flush as the child slowly nodded. "Juvia has never seen him look the way he did today. Juvia thinks Gajeel cares about you very much too." Neirah's teary-eyed gaze tipped to where the faintest of smiles was offered to her. She was thrown into memories of what she used to be before she had met Ryverika, before she had met Gajeel, and her heart warmed. Without warning, she threw her arms around Juvia and hugged her tightly._

 _._

 _"_ _Thank you, Miss Juvia," Neirah whispered softly. "I'm really glad I met you today."_

 _._

 _Juvia gasped softly before hesitantly hugging the child back. "I-J… Juvia is glad as well," she staggered softly. "From now on, perhaps you can look on Juvia as a big… sister." She was uncertain when Neirah pulled away and offered her happy, tear-stained features to the water wizard._

 _._

 _"_ _You know? I don't mind being an orphan," Neirah assured the woman softly. "This way, I can make my own family and fill it with wonderful people like you and big brother."_

 _._

 _Juvia blushed and smiled warmly at the young girl. "Juvia is glad that this makes you happy."_

 _._

 _"_ _How very interesting…" Master Jose crooned as he watched the little girl's interactions with one of his guild wizards. "It seems the child has wandered right through my front door." His gaze remained over the balcony as a shadow nearby him stepped into the light with a devious grin._

 _._

 _"_ _Interesting indeed," Karua murmured darkly. "And she has made quite a little guard dog out of that dragon slayer of yours."_

 _._

 _"_ _So, it would seem..." Master Jose turned to face the man with a sinister smile. "I do believe I have a proposition that could benefit the both of us."_

.

* * *

.

Lucy began to flip through the notes on Jose's imprisonment frantically. "Right before the claims, it was said that someone had attacked Cobra from inside his prison. Nobody could figure out who it was so it was just assumed someone else in the prison had done it. It turns out – Hah!" She pointed her figure to the posting. "It had been Jose all along."

.

Levy shook her head in confusion. "That makes little to no sense."

.

"True," Lucy mused externally. "Until we met with the creep and found out that Kaura had been harvesting samples of dragon slayer's blood for the freaky ritual he wanted to perform on Neirah."

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Heeheehee… So, I see Karua is just as ambitious as ever."_

 _._

 _Erza whirled around with a startled gasp to face the prison cell behind them._

 _._

 _"_ _How delightful."_

 _._

 _"_ _Who said that?!" Gray demanded bitterly._

 _._

 _"_ _Wait… That's Master Jose!" Erza exclaimed in astonishment._

 _._

 _"_ _Ah! So not cool!" Lucy panicked, leaping behind Erza for defence._

 _._

 _"_ _Juvia, I see you've fallen far since the disbanding of Phantom Lord."_

 _._

 _"_ _Do not be ridiculous," she murmured enthusiastically. She swept her hand through the air to dismiss his comment. "Gajeel and Juvia are right where we belong."_

 _._

 _"_ _Ah yes… How is dear Black-steel-Ga-jeel these days?" A chill crawled down her spine with his sinister chuckle. "In good health, I hope?"_

 _._

 _"_ _Silence! That man you spoke of is Neirah's father!" Erza demanded in authority. "Tell us what you know about Karua!"_

 _._

 _"_ _Everything," Jose mocked from the safety of his prison. "Karua and I, well, we go way back…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Well, then you'd better start talkin' before I start droppin' the temperature of that cell of yours!" Gray warned him rashly as he drove his hand into his palm._

 _._

 _"_ _You can talk to me all you want, but not even Gajeel can protect the child now. She was doomed the moment we discovered that the boy had found her," he assured them certainly. "In fact, if you're here, the chances are pretty good it's already too late for them. They have quite a hate on for each other; Gajeel and my. old. friend."_

 _._

 _"_ _Why you-" Gray snarled bitterly._

 _._

 _"_ _Gray, my darling, we don't have time for this," Juvia assured him softly._

 _._

 _"_ _He's bluffing!" Gray denied energetically._

 _._

 _"_ _Juvia is afraid it's all true…" Juvia cooed softly. "Shadow and Juvia met while Juvia was still a member of Phantom Lord. Her father and Master Jose met often… Not even Gajeel knew."_

 _._

 _"_ _Ah, so you were eavesdropping, were you?" Jose chimed in. "How very naughty."_

 _._

 _"_ _Enough!" Erza demanded, drawing her sword and shoving it through the bars towards Jose. "Tell me where they've taken Neirah! Tell me what her father has to do with the dark guild Marionette!" She stilled with the wicked twist in Jose's grin as he glared back at them defiantly._

 _._

 _"_ _Everything…"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"Man, I just got chills," Levy murmured grimly. "Phantom was a light guild too, aligned with Marionette all along."

.

Lucy slammed the book that she was reading shut. "Funding for their disgusting experiments on helpless kids like Neirah had to come from somewhere."

.

Levy's eyes widened in horror. "Then that means-!"

.

"That Zade DeLaria is aligned with Karua and Jose in the same unified purpose." Makarov startled the girls as he appeared, his grizzled expression stern as he glared back at them. "Resurrecting the Golden Dragon Divine."

.

"Master…" Levy whimpered. "You knew this whole time?"

.

He slowly nodded.

.

Lucy wasn't acceptant of the information she'd just received. "Wait, and you just let her go?!" She demanded, her tone escalating with her impatience. "I'm sorry Master, but hasn't Neirah already been through enough over this?! Why did you let her go alone when Fairy Tail could have helped her!"

.

"We have an impending war with Alvarez to contend with," he defended.

.

"Well I don't know about you, but the resurrection of a dragon god seems like a pretty big deal to me!" Lucy argued. "You let Gajeel and Laxus go! Why not send Natsu and-"

.

"Because with Laxus and Gajeel absent I don't know if we have the defence we need to stand against the invading empire!" Makarov argued impatiently to silence the edgy blonde. "Neirah has battled with the shadows of her past her entire life. This is her final stand against it. In order for her to move on, to live her life to its fullest, she must be rid of this burden."

.

Lucy shook her head, tears in her eyes for a dear friend out fighting a war of her own. "We could have helped her," Lucy denied. "Fairy Tail… Ghoul Knight is one of the largest guilds in the kingdom… and she's facing it alone…"

.

Levy bowed her head, biting her lower lip to keep from exposing the truth that only she knew about Neirah's past. The certainty in Makarov's voice. She knew what had put it there. She also knew the cost from which it came.

.

Lucy stilled when Levy reached out and laid her hand on her friend's shoulder, a devastatingly sad smile forced to her lips. "N-Not alone, Lu," she assured her. "She's got… she's got her big brother." Levy shook her fretful tears from her eyes. "There hasn't been anything her big brother couldn't bring her home safely from." Levy turned to look at Makarov, encouraging Lucy to do the same. "They _will_ come home, right Master?"

.

Makarov lingered in silence for a long moment before turning away.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _So, you're taking Laxus with you. How surprising. Have you two come to terms then?"_

 _._

 _Neirah flinched, stilled by the sound of her guild master approaching. "Master…"_

 _._

 _"_ _This is quite an inopportune time for Fairy Tail to lose a wizard of his stature."_

 _._

 _Neirah bowed her head, fighting the nervous tears that wanted to fall as she clenched her fists at her sides. "I didn't ask them to follow me…"_

 _._

 _"_ _But do you understand what it means?" Makarov stared into the fretful and uncertain gaze of Infinity Dragon's newly appointed guild master. "What it means to be followed, to lead, to take responsibility for the people you care about."_

 _._

 _Neirah denied her gaze, the glittering of tears meeting the sand beneath her feet._

 _._

 _"_ _As a guild master, you have to make decisions that aren't always easy, they might not always feel right, but someone… has to make them."_

 _._

 _Neirah's heart grew heavy as it wrenched beneath her chest. Makarov always spoke like he knew something she thought was impossible to know._

 _._

 _"_ _To let you walk away with two of my most powerful allies in this time of need, know that that decision isn't easily made," he assured her. "I expect their prompt return."_

 _._

 _Neirah nodded her head frantically, shaking the tears from her eyes knowing that her time with Fairy Tail had come to an end. "Yes, sir…"_

 _._

 _Makarov sighed and looked at the ground, his expression dragged thin with malcontent. "When you find the answers you are looking for your decisions will not get any easier," he warned. "Promise me that you won't lose faith in humanity."_

 _._

 _Neirah's wide and trembling stare dropped silent tears freely from her face as she stared back into his wise features. She tried to speak but her voice was too weak, her heart too heavy with the turmoil she concealed._

 _._

 _"_ _Remember what they were willing to do for you in your time of need. Preserve the love you feel for the friends you hold dear and see their light guide you through the shadows of your past."_

 _._

 _"_ _I will, Master…" Neirah whimpered weakly, bowing her head. "I promise to make haste and have them returned to you as soon as possible."_

 _._

 _Makarov's expression softened sadly as he watched her tears pool at her feet. He turned away from her with a soft, languid sigh. "I'm putting a lot of faith in you," he whispered upon parting. "I beg of you to do the same for us."_

.

* * *

.

"As the master of a guild, you are expected to make decisions," Makarov assured the girls grimly. He didn't waver as Lucy and Levy stared back at him with horrified expressions, the weight of his denial plummeting to the beat of their racing hearts.

.

 _Neirah watched as Gajeel tried to peel her little self from his arms for the umpteenth time, her heart full of memories from her childhood._

.

Makarov diverted his attention to the ground in reminiscence of the day he'd learned the truth. "They are not always easy to pass, and you are not always guaranteed to make the right one."

 _._

 _Neirah sighed and dropped her head. Her brother had raised her since the day she'd lost Ryverika, watched out for her, cared for her, taught her how to be strong. She could never betray him. She could never betray humanity, not like they had betrayed her._

.

Makarov turned away from Lucy and Levy with a dismal sigh. "But somebody has to draw a line in the sand."

.

 _Neirah flinched as she felt Laxus reach out through the commotion and gently touch his fingers to hers. She shifted her peripherals his way, but he hadn't moved. He still sat beside her, one hand in the sand as the other draped over his raised knee. To the others, it might've looked like a happy accident, if they weren't already too busy watching Gajeel and Edolas Neirah's theatrics in delight, that is. Neirah smiled a teary smile as she reciprocated his assurance by intertwining their little fingers._

.

"Neirah Ahrai is no longer a Fairy Tail wizard…"

.

 _She still liked… how it felt…_

.

"And will not be returning to us."


	8. The Weight of Our Choices

_**The Weight of our Choices**_

* * *

.

.

"There has been no advance on the Alvarez front." Jura turned to face Makarov, whose expression was inanely grim. "It seems Zeref has found himself distracted, for the moment. I suppose we should consider that a blessing in disguise since God Serena has abandoned us."

.

"It's both a relief and a pain in the arse," Makarov sighed out over his mug of ale. "If you ask me, sitting and waiting is just as bad as facing their conflict head-on."

.

"It could be seen as such," Jura reasoned. "But knowing that Fairy Tail is Zeref's ultimate target is rather unsettling. And to make matters worse, it seems your defence has been thinning." He turned his curious gaze towards the man sitting at the Fairy Tail guild bar alongside him. "I'm surprised that you allowed that in light of recent events."

.

"There is validity to their cause," Makarov admitted bleakly. "We certainly don't need another dragon running around unchecked."

.

"So, the rumours are true," Jura added. He looked forlornly out over the guild. "She has reunited with the remnants of Infinity Dragon and resumed their activity."

.

"True in part," Makarov admitted. "It is true that she took Laxus and Gajeel to join with three surviving members of the previous guild, but I have no reason to believe that she is responsible for the towns being devastated by a mysterious plague. So far as I know, her guild consists of mainly dragon slayers, a single Exceed and one shape-shifting child from Edolas. The elements in her company are water, ice, iron and lightning; none of which are toxic."

.

"Except Neirah…"

.

Makarov looked out over the guild with tired eyes. "It's true that Neirah has control of a very large array of elements, even if she does not have the strength to use them like the other dragon slayers." He turned and looked at Jura sternly. "But she could never do the kind of things that this tyrant is capable of."

.

Jura smiled softly. "You have more faith in her than you care to let on."

.

"It is true, I haven't always welcomed the child into my home with open arms," Makarov admitted with discouragement. "I hoped that after we had returned from the island, she would have already been long gone; grieving for her lost brother." Makarov's gaze softened. "But she remained. She waited all those years, fighting for the honour of this guild, and at such a young age. I couldn't turn her away, not even if she poses a great danger to my children. But the same could have been said for the two numbskulls she took with her, at one point. I had to give her the same chance to prove her loyalty, no matter the scale. I can't help but worry about her safety in this grave battle she has chosen to undertake."

.

Jura grinned knowingly. "Even if Neirah was cast aside, the Austalian Elitists would've had to have been eliminated as urgently as the Balam Alliance was," he added humbly. "And I think you know just how capable Fairy Tail would be in keeping its nose out of that mess. Especially when Gajeel realised his little sister was still out there and very much in danger."

.

"I can't deny this," Makarov agreed. "Having so many other dragon slayers by her side as she walked her path was an invaluable asset. Together, they saw both Jose and Karua silenced." His brow creased darkly with his thoughts. "But Zade is another matter entirely. He has far too much political influence for Fairy Tail to stand against him, especially with our reputation as troublemakers. We're a relatively small guild on the vast scale of things and always seem to end up in far more trouble than should be possible. The force to stand against him needed to be small and tactical, Kairyn knew this. It would seem Neirah is following in his footsteps. Contradictory to the evidence attesting to it, she didn't once seek aid from her fellow guild members."

.

"A more important question stands," Jura added sternly. "This has been attempted before, on Neirah herself, even. But is it even possible to resurrect the essence of a dragon into this world? Merging with a living vessel was one thing that failed. But it is another entirely to raise a dragon from the dead. I have never heard of anyone succeeding a resurrection of any kind in the course of our history much less on a scale such as this one."

.

"The world of magic has not always shed light on this world," Makarov cautioned. "There are many dark secrets lost to time that still manage to creep their way into our lives every now and again. This will be no different." He heaved a heavy sigh and took a long, thoughtful drink from his mug. "From what I gathered in their first attempt, it was not a summoning at all. It was a failed merging. They are working through trial and error by basing their attempts on lost blood magic; they have been for the last century. They do not want to see Ryverika restored. Ryverika was a kind, peaceful and wise creature with a great love for humanity. The people who want to see his power resurface seek to control it. To see Ryverika himself back into this world wouldn't suit their purpose." Makarov's expression dimmed bleakly. "That is the only reason why they ever had an interest in our Shadow. A weak mind and a broken spirit are far easier to control than a resurrected dragon god."

.

"I suppose you're right."

.

"It is sad to say. They sacrifice countless lives in the exploration of tyranny, but if they just opened their eyes they would realise that Ryverika's power never left this world."

.

Jura shifted his gaze slowly to Makarov and then cast it outwards once more. "All we can do now is believe that Infinity Dragon can succeed in stopping them."

.

"I refuse to believe anything else," Makarov added certainly. "Not when my own flesh and blood stands among them."

.

"I'm sure they will return soon… Neirah has a lot of love for Fairy Tail."

.

"I fear that love… won't be enough."

.

* * *

.

"What's the matter, Lucy?" Mira crooned gently. She leaned into the bar opposing where her friend was lingering amongst a heap of papers. "You've been pretty down for the last couple of days."

.

"It's something the master said to Levy and I," she admitted bleakly. She sifted tirelessly through her documents. "About Neirah." She turned another page. "Ever since then, I've been trying to figure out where they might be, but… it's so difficult with all these false Ghoul Night claims Zade has issued. The destruction is centralized, but there's no guarantee that Neirah and the others are anywhere near it. Zade isn't targeting Infinity Dragon. He's targeting innocent lives to _frame_ Infinity Dragon."

.

"But he is framing them with the intent that they will be caught, right?"

.

"I would assume?"

.

Mira smiled positively. "Well, maybe it's a shot in the dark, but it's a place to start. If Infinity Dragon wasn't anywhere near the attacks to be caught in the crossfire, it's likely that Zade wouldn't waste his time." Lucy flinched over her papers like Mira's brainstorm had just burst her search wide open, but Mirajane's curious features immediately dimmed like she was mourning the loss before confirmation came of their defeat. "What has the master said about Neirah?"

.

"He doesn't think she'll come back to us..."

.

Mira's face knotted adorably with her disagreement. "Of course she will! Fairy Tail means a lot to her."

.

"He doesn't seem to think so… He sounded so sure." Lucy rolled her exhausted gaze to the side, her heart heavy with malcontent. "I just can't feel like things are back to normal yet," she whispered bleakly. "Sure, I didn't exactly go out of my way to hang out with Laxus or Gajeel, but Neirah and I were really good friends. It doesn't feel the same without them here. To top it all off, the Thunder Legion has been down since Laxus left a few weeks ago and Levy's devastated thinking that there is a chance Neirah won't return. She won't tell me much about it, just says she's fine, but I know she's probably worried that Gajeel will choose to stay with his little sister. After his scare with Tenrou, I don't think he'll ever be away from her again."

.

Mira reached out and took Lucy's hand gently between both of hers. "She _will_ come back."

.

Lucy's gentle hazel gaze trembled as she stared back into Mira's intensely convinced expression. "H-how can you be so sure when the mast-"

.

"Because the master is the one who sent Laxus."

.

Lucy's eyes widened in sheer bewilderment. "N-no way! Everyone talks like Neirah might as well have forced them to go! Even the mast-"

.

"Laxus was planning on going as soon as she started to act skittish again. The people closest to her know what to expect when she acts that way. She runs. But he wouldn't go unless the master approved," Mira assured her. "Neirah may be one of the most powerful wizards that this guild has ever seen, but she's still so scared. Her entire life she has been forced to hide from a past that keeps chasing her. None of us wants to see her run away anymore. She's one of us now. The master sent Laxus to help make sure she does make it back and I made him promise before he left that he would make sure that all four of them made it safely back home. That includes Neirah. This is her home."

.

Lucy sighed and looked away, letting the weight of Mira's words sink in. "I just can't help but feel like there's something we're not being told…" Lucy whispered tenderly. "The master makes it sound like Neirah won't want to come home… or maybe…"

.

Mira giggled warmly at the thought, tipping her sunny smile to one side. "She won't have a choice, silly," she teased. Her sudden fit of enthusiasm drew Lucy's attention with her optimism. "Just try to tell Laxus no if he tells you to do something."

.

Lucy paled, flinching with the mere thought of defying someone with that kind of power. "I… think I'll pass," she grumbled playfully. She readjusted into a more positive demeanour for her pretty features. "But I've seen those two fight. If anyone can tell Laxus 'no' you know it's Neirah."

.

"That's why I told Neirah that she had to make sure she brought Laxus home in one piece too!" Mira cooed devilishly.

.

"Mira!" Lucy demanded frantically. "You set them up!"

.

Mira turned away and pressed both hands to the sides of her face. "Me? Oh no, you must be mistaken."

.

"Just talking to you about this made me feel ten times better," Lucy whispered warmly. "They might as well be ghosts with how elusive they are. Anything we hear about Infinity Dragon is false propaganda framed by Zade. Nobody can get a lock on where Neirah and the others are even basing their operations."

.

"Then I'm almost certain that they're just fine. If we can't find them, let's hope nobody else can either," Mira crooned softly. "I have a lot of faith in them…"

.

 **"** **What do you mean they're not coming home?!"**

.

Lucy squealed as Natsu's thunderous roar filled the guild hall and saw the table before him burst into flames. She focused her gaze on where Levy retreated from in front of him with her hand over her fretful features.

.

"Way to go Natsu!" Droy scolded irately. "You made Levy cry!"

.

"What the hell's your problem!?" Jet scolded.

.

 **"** **SHUT UP!"** Natsu bellowed, silencing them with tosses of furniture. "Who the hell said that they weren't coming home?! WHO SAID IT!?

.

"Natsu what the heck is your problem?!" Lucy scolded impatiently. She stormed to where he was making a scene in the centre of the guild hall, Mirajane close to her side.

.

"What the hell is going on?!" Natsu demanded while narrowing his gaze on Lucy. "Someone told Levy that Infinity Dragon isn't coming home!"

.

"I know! I was there!" Lucy demanded.

.

"That's a load of crap! Who said it!?" Natsu repeated. "Why the hell wouldn't they come home?!"

.

"Laxus and Gajeel will!" Lucy demanded. She quickly adjusted her tone, her gaze diverting hesitantly. "We're just… not sure about Neirah…"

.

"And why the hell not?!"

.

Lucy snapped her attention wrathfully back towards his tantrum. "NATSU!"

.

"If Laxus and Gajeel are coming back, _why wouldn't Shadow_!?" He demanded. "Someone'd better start makin' sense around here or I'm gonna burn the whole damn place to the ground!"

.

"Typical Natsu," Mira crooned.

.

"If the others are comin' back, tell me why Shads isn't!"

.

Lucy's eyes glossed with tears all over again, the weight of Levy's in the back of her mind. The truth was that she didn't know and that she couldn't deny Natsu's simplicity. The only thing her mind could even fathom, the only way Neirah's brother would return without her… was if she was forced to sacri-

.

"I-It's just complicated," Lucy demanded with tears sprinkling over her fair cheeks. She slammed her clenched fists to her sides with a bitter shout. "OK!? So just shut up about it!"

.

"No, it's not!" Natsu defended while mirroring her gesture. "This is her home, Lucy! This is where she belongs! It's where they all belong! Ain't nothin' out there strong enough to keep them from making it back."

.

"You don't know that!" Lucy denied.

.

"Tell me who fed you this garbage!" Natsu wailed feverishly. "I'll shut em' up myself! I'll go out there and burn up every rock and tree until I find them all and bring them back home! And nothing is gonna s-"

.

The entire guild stilled as the hall doors were thrown open to allow devastated cries of anguish to fill their hall in place of Natsu's rage. "Fairy Tail! I need – ne-ne – need Fairy Taaail!"

.

Erza's expression paled as her gaze was drawn to a little girl trying to help a large, weathered man through the doors. She ran to the child's side as quickly as possible, pushing between Natsu and Lucy on her way. "What on earth is this?!" She lunged in demand to help the child support the man. Just as she reached out, the girl screeched and made her stop dead in her tracks.

.

"Don't touch him!" She screamed upon collapsing to the floor alongside him. "The lady said you can't touch the wounds or you'll _die_!"

.

"Lady…" Natsu muttered quietly.

.

The girl crawled out from beneath her grandfather's arm, her body burning with her own contamination. "I tried to get here sooner, but it was so far, the nice lady bandaged him up but his scratches kept getting bigger. She said you can't touch them or you will get sick too, like me…" She could barely speak through her rivers of tears. "But I had no choice because he's my grandpa and I need him!"

.

"Jet, go to Porlyusica and see if she can come right away!" Erza ordered in alarm.

.

"Right," he agreed moments before vanishing.

.

"What else can you tell us? What did this to him?"

.

"The lady said that normal medicine can't help him. It has to be healed by the sky!"

.

"The sky…" Erza murmured. "Wendy."

.

"She said that the whole town was infected and there was nothing she could do. She told me to bring grandpa here."

.

"Whole town, like this?" Natsu restated in horror.

.

Lucy drew her fingers to her lips in disgust. "It's like the skin is melting right off of him," she whined gently.

.

"Where are you from?" Erza demanded urgently. "Where is your home?"

.

"Lysar," she snivelled.

.

"The attacks that Infinity Dragon was framed for at the beginning of this week…" Mira murmured sadly.

.

" _This_ is what Zade is capable of?" Erza gasped in terror and tried to conceal her rage for the beast. "It's unfathomable."

.

"Please…" the little girl mewled in exhaustion. "Please help my grandpa…" With that, the child lost consciousness on the floor.

.

"Elevate her! Elevate her quickly but do not touch any open wounds!" Porlyusica demanded, rushing through the door.

.

"That was fast," Gray murmured in observance.

.

"That's kind of my thing," Jet assured him through wheezing breaths.

.

"This is organic deterioration magic! Anything it can rot away it will. See that no one touches them but Wendy and I." Porlyusica proceeded to dust the floorboards of the guild beneath their two visitors with a powdered mixture to prevent its contamination.

.

"Yes, ma'am," Erza rushed out swiftly. She slowly stepped away from the little girl despite her desperate need to offer aid.

.

"Is Freed here?"

.

"I am."

.

Porlyusica gathered Freed alongside Wendy and ushered them to the sides of the injured. "I will need you to help contain this. Do exactly as I say."

.

Bickslow watched on as they started to clean up the mess of deteriorating flesh on the guild hall floor. "This isn't right," he muttered bleakly.

.

Evergreen looked up at him worrisomely with his statement. "Do you think Laxus and the others are ok?"

.

"Neirah can heal this sorta stuff but obviously she didn't have the power she needed to help fix a whole village," Bickslow theorised. "But if Laxus or Gajeel had a run in with this, I'm sure she'd be able to patch 'em up no prob."

.

Evergreen watched Freed raise his enchantment to defend the building. "I know I've said it about a hundred times, but it just doesn't feel right without Laxus here."

.

"So we've concluded, again and again." Freed raised his sharp gaze to where he could face his friends upon approach. "Now what have we decided to do about it?"

.

"Ya say that like there's somethin' we _can_ do," Bickslow pointed out. "You know somethin' we don't?"

.

"Laxus was really certain that he wanted to help Infinity Dragon," Evergreen added. "Even if there _was_ something we could do-"

.

Freed passed by them with his hands folded behind his back. "Don't kid yourself, Laxus has no interest in Infinity Dragon or its ambitions," Freed assured them coldly. The act forced his friends to flinch at his back as he turned to face them with a look of conviction on his features. "He's doing it for Neirah."

.

"That's kinda a bold statement, buddy," Bickslow murmured in slight bemusement. "They spent more time tryin' to kill each other than actually chummin'."

.

Evergreen nodded in agreement. "In fact, I don't think I ever saw-"

.

"It's because they didn't want you to see it." Freed bowed his head solemnly and took a seat at the table they'd once shared. "I don't think _they_ wanted to see it."

.

Bickslow joined him shortly after, prying out the rest of the story as boldly as he knew how. "Alright, story time!"

.

Evergreen smiled as she joined their company. "There certainly does sound like there's more to this."

.

Freed offered them a weak smile. "I didn't expect you two to be so willing to hear what I had to say. So far as I know, Bickslow, you're still terrified of her for… um… whichever reason or the other."

.

Bickslow snickered mischievously with his tongue flopped out of his mouth. "That's one craaazy, baby."

.

"And there are only two pairs who quarrel more than Neirah and Laxus do. Those pairs are Natsu and Gray-"

.

"Obviously," Bickslow crooned.

.

Freed turned to face their female companion. "And yourself with Neirah."

.

Evergreen blushed and fanned her face to conceal her humility. "You try eating a fly swatter every time you have something important to say." Bickslow burst into maniacal laughter over the shot.

.

"Still…" Freed started bleakly. "I want to tell you both something very important. I kept the memories to myself in case it caused more problems than they were worth, but now I think I'm ready to share. You see, a year ago when we were hospitalised as a result of our conflict with Tempester, it wasn't Porlyusica who cured us." Freed's comrades looked at him in utter bewilderment. "It was Neirah…"

.

* * *

 _._

 _"_ _Looks like you got into it good this time, Sparky," Neirah whispered weakly though panting with her own exhaustion. Porlyusica's expression grew uncertain as she watched the girl's diamond coloured eyes morph in colour until they were a deep ocean blue beneath her tears. Neirah let out an exasperated whimper as her hands fell against him, her body trembling with fatigue as she tried desperately to catch her breath. "I'm sorry," she whispered weakly through her tears. "I should have paced myself better." She reached down and rested her palm against his perspiring brow. "I managed to get the others to rest stably until Miss Porlyusica can find a cure, but… I had no idea you were in a much worse condition." It was easy for the woman to tell how much the child cared for her guildmate when she watched her lean down to press her brow against his, her tender whisper filled with affection. "As soon as I get some of my spark back… I promise I'll come back for you… You won't be alone in this fight."_

 _._

 _With the confirmation of her suspicions, Porlyusica took her first step towards Neirah. "I thought I had sensed someone sneak in here," she interrupted sternly upon stepping to the other end of Laxus' bedside. "But I suppose it's nice to know that someone cares about the reckless fool. Something he obviously inherited from his grandfather."_

 _._

 _Neirah recoiled away from him bashfully, laid her hands in her lap and quickly bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry to intrude, ma'am."_

 _._

 _The woman caught a curt, amused chuckle before it escaped with her entertainment. "Makarov is right. You do apologise too much." Neirah kept her head bowed, her cheeks flushing darker with the realisation she'd been caught lingering in unrequited affection. "Be at ease, child. There is no need for you to sneak around simply to offer aid to your fellow guild members," Porlyusica assured her gently. "I can see that look in your eyes. That boy could use a little love if you asked me."_

 _._

 _Neirah took the opportunity of Porlyusica's turned back to raise her gaze to Laxus' discontented expression. She didn't have the heart to admit that even if there was truth in the wise woman's words, he had no interest in accepting it from her. "I apologise once again for the intrusion, ma'am," she rushed out upon climbing to her feet. "I will leave you to your-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Not so fast." Neirah froze with Porlyusica's demand and eventually turned to face the woman who hadn't bothered to look away from the ingredients she was mixing upon her table. "When I left this room, four fallen wizards writhed in agony." Her assurance was swift as she cast an indirect glance Neirah's way. "Now one just barely stirs."_

 _._

 _Neirah turned away guiltily and rubbed a chill from her arms beneath her cloak. "I have some healing spells… similar to Wen-"_

 _._

 _"_ _I'm aware," the healer offered briskly. "I have encountered one of your kind before and am familiar with what they are capable of."_

 _._

 _Neirah caught her breath and threw her head back to direct her full attention to the woman. "Another infinite dragon slayer?"_

 _._

 _"_ _Yes," Porlyusica agreed hurriedly. "I am sure you are familiar with the name Kairyn."_

 _._

 _Neirah's heart sank with her disappointed thoughts as the Edolas dragon slayer crossed her mind. "Yes, ma'am," she whispered meekly._

 _._

 _"_ _Well, I too am familiar with his barbaric tactics and practices," Porlyusica snorted out derisively. "I knew him when the land still referred to him as Ryverika." Neirah's wide eyes stared at the ground with the racing of her wild thoughts. Hearing Ryverika's name on another's lips broke her heart with grief. "The point I am trying to make with this is simple," Porlyusica continued. "The amount of power it takes to practice the art you share is unspeakable; especially when you do not possess the ability to recharge your reserve as the other slayer type wizards." Porlyusica shifted her attention to the girl before taking the girl's face in her hands and sternly forcing her to look into her eyes. "Ah, I thought as much," she prattled on anxiously before returning to her herbs._

 _._

 _"_ _M-ma'am?"_

 _._

 _Porlyusica turned and offered Neirah her mother's journal off of the table. "For a man of Kairyn's stature and magical capabilities, these spells are merely child's play. If he were here, the very special quality your element possesses may be able to vanquish the Bane particles from these four without the use of an antidote at all." Neirah's heart shattered with her weakness, her fists flexing at her sides with her inferiority. "There's no need to get antsy, child. No great wizard begins as such," she assured the girl softly. "Not even Kairyn."_

 _._

 _"_ _I'm sorry…" Neirah stammered out through her hurt. "Even if I knew where Kairyn was, he wouldn't come…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Oh?" Porlyusica encouraged curiously._

 _._

 _"_ _He and… he and Laxus are at odds…"_

 _._

 _"_ _My you have a talent for sugar coating the truth, don't you?" Neirah smiled weakly and redirected her attention to the floor as the woman laughed off the conflict raging between the men. Porlyusica turned to face her with a stern look on her face. "The reason that I rouse the subject is that you possess a tremendous power, child. One that is more than capable of utilising the spells in this book." Neirah's breath caught as she looked back at her expectantly. "Neirah, was it?" The woman continued, looking deeply into her eyes. "They call you the Shadow, am I right?"_

 _._

 _Neirah nodded her head weakly. "Yes, ma'am… A name… given to me by Earthland's Ryverika."_

 _._

 _She scoffed lightly to herself and turned back to her work. "I find it rather amusing. A wizard possessing divine magic masquerading as a phantom."_

 _._

 _"_ _Divine?" Neirah whispered softly. "I think you may be mist-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Everyone makes mistakes," Porlyusica assured her. "But this is not one of mine." And with her remark, she continued. "You are capable of using many elements, some might say all of them. But you have your own as well, and it is particularly unique. In this situation, you have managed to stabilise the condition of your friends by neutralising the effects of some of the Bane particles poisoning them. The infinite light qualities of the infinity dragon add a purifying effect to any elemental spell. To be specific, individuals with black hearts stained with sin would pose no threat to you in the least." Porlyusica smiled back at her warmly as she watched Neirah stare towards Laxus' bedside with wide teary eyes. "There is nothing dark about Fairy Tail's Shadow," she concluded softly. "He isn't the only one who's noticed."_

 _._

 _"_ _I… wish there was more I could do…" Neirah whimpered out gently. "I didn't realise how bad it was… how… I'm so sorry. I promise that when I get my power back, I will do all I can to-"_

 _._

 _"_ _There you are with your apologies again," she huffed out impatiently. "Were you ever offered an apology for your condition?"_

 _._

 _"_ _M-my condition…?"_

 _._

 _"_ _That is what I said," Porlyusica reiterated firmly. "Affection towards Laxus is not the only secret your eyes betray." Neirah's face grew red, but she didn't bother denying the wise old woman. She simply prayed for sound sleep from their roommates as her secrets were revealed._

 _._

 _"_ _My eyes…?"_

 _._

 _"_ _I watched you extinguish the remainder of your magical power in attempts to heal these four. For the times I have met with you in the past, your eyes have been pale and colourless as diamonds. Now I look into an ocean of colour. Tell me you haven't noticed this," she dared._

 _._

 _"_ _I- have…" Neirah surrendered gently. "I don't know why it happens."_

 _._

 _"_ _Well I will not say that I am perfect, but this is the second time I will not mistake you," Porlyusica assured her promptly. "You possess far more power than you think, and I intend on helping you realise it. Tell me about your childhood."_

 _._

 _Neirah flinched, suddenly feeling like she was under examination as the woman brewed at her desk. "When Ryverika found me-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Before that, child, time is precious."_

 _._

 _Neirah's brow furrowed with her diverted attention as the memories Karua had released in her came flooding back. "I was taken away from my mother at birth and raised in an Austalian cult worshipping the Golden Dragon Divine, Ryverika. My memories were limited and rewritten to hide that they were trying to resurrect him within me."_

 _._

 _"_ _I would have guessed something similar, absent the details." She sighed in exasperation and stood still before the girl, halting the fidgeting she was doing in order to speak plainly. "You suffer from something I've seen only once before," the old woman assured her confidently. "It is a sickness residing within you that limits your magical storage and regeneration. It is the reason you fall so ill when you exert yourself and the reason it takes you so long to recover your abilities. Kairyn does not suffer this. It was not a phenomenon caused by your dragon slaying abilities."_

 _._

 _"_ _Are you suggesting that I should be more capable than I am?"_

 _._

 _"_ _No,_ _"_ _Porlyusica added frankly. "I'm ascertaining it." She flashed a concoction Neirah's way, indicating her results for the clamouring she was distracted by earlier. "The cause of this condition is due to the magic residual left behind from whatever use those monsters had for your young body while you were in Marionette's care. It seems that it has never completely cleared the effects. Your eye colour, by birth, is the brilliant blue that I see before me. It returns when you deplete your energy. You see, the residual left behind from the experimentation you had undergone as a child accelerates the rate of magical essence leaving your body."_

 _._

 _"_ _Why do I feel like you're telling me this because there is a chance I can fix it?"_

 _._

 _"_ _I cannot guarantee the results. There is a chance you may very well end up in a bed alongside the friends you tried so desperately to assist," Porlyusica offered cautiously. "As I said before, I have only seen this case once before. Unfortunately, they were beyond the exhaustion of my efforts," she added humbly. "I cannot say what will happen if I attempt to free you of this burden, but what I do know gives me the courage to try," she added proudly upon inhaling a deep breath. "War is on our doorstep with a dark foe and the magic you carry within you has the strength to push back against it. I know how dear your friend's lives are to you, but there are far more important matters to see to. I can take care of these four, especially with the time you have bought with your efforts. The truth is that I would see you on the front lines with the others and at your fullest potential. If you have the courage to try, I will do all I can to help Fairy Tail's Shadow step into the light."_

 _._

 _Neirah shuddered nervously, her heart racing with the expulsion of her predicament. She didn't fear pain. She'd go through hell and back in order to protect the people she cared about; such was customary of Fairy Tail wizards. The next person to lay their head in Fairy Tail's infirmary might very well be her big brother or sister. Her head turned mechanically ever-so-slightly so that her peripheral gaze could rest on the man she'd left in the bed nearby._

 _._

 _Porlyusica caught the child's tremoring and sighed softly with her knowledge of the woman's concerns. "If I am to make this attempt, I will need one final ingredient for my remedy that can commonly be found in the East Forest. I will go apprehend one of the wizards remaining to retrieve it for me," she added softly while meeting Neirah's desperate blue gaze. "I'd like you to consider this decision carefully."_

 _._

 _Neirah nodded quietly and watched the woman walk out of the room. The hollow click of the door shutting behind Porlyusica echoed in her mind as she stared at the floor. After a long moment, her first step fell heavily against the tiles until the remainder were leading her back to Laxus' side. She watched the heavy rise and fall of his chest, his strained expression eluding peace as he rested._

 _._

 _She silently raised her trembling hands above Laxus once more and closed her eyes tightly. Heavier tears rolled over her cheeks as her fingers remained unresponsive to the energy she tried to exhaust even further. With a soft and desperate cry, she dropped her hands onto his bedside, burying her face within them. "Useless," she whispered desperately. "Completely useless… What good is knowing all of these spells if I can't use a single one the way it's meant to be used?" She cried softly into her arms. "I know we haven't always gotten along… but I'd give anything… for any of you…" She shuddered weakly, her fists balling in the blankets on the bedside. "Bickslow, Freed, Evergreen…" She caught her breath in between sniffles as she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the bed. "Laxus…" She closed her eyes with an exhausted sigh. "Anything…"_

 _._

 _Freed stared weakly at the ceiling as he listened to the girl whisper her gentle pleas to the silent room around her, his expression humbling sadly. He had been awake the whole time, or certainly since she'd helped lift his fever. In an instant, he felt the sting of guilt pierce him worse than the pain had seen him suffer._

 _._

 _On the outside, Neirah was a bratty little rebel that liked picking fights with them; Laxus, in particular. He had always found their games tedious, but he had never once stopped to consider that maybe there was something more to the story. He rolled his head to the side and looked through the small break between the curtain and the wall. He couldn't see much, but he could hear her, the way she cried for him; for them. Her friends. Even after all they had put her through._

 _._

 _She caught her breath, her eyes flying open when one of her hands closest to Laxus sensed contact, no matter how weak. She was careful not to move too quickly and disturb him, but that was before she realised she had already done so._

 _._

 _"_ _I told you…"_

 _._

 _She quickly blinked her eyes dry of her tears as she looked up at him and did her best to smile. "Did you wake up just to patronise me?" She whispered softly. She enjoyed the feeling of the small amount of contact they shared after avoiding each other for so long._

 _._

 _"_ _Seemed like a good enough reason… to me…" Her brow furrowed sadly as he raised his hand to its extent, his fingertips barely grazing her cheek before he was wincing with the effort. She tried to keep her smile displayed as she caught his palm and held it to her face with the effort he didn't have to offer. "Looks like you've been workin' over-time, Blue Eyes…" His gaze was weighted and weak as he tried to force a grin to reassure the trembling girl. "That's ok… I always liked these ones better…"_

 _._

 _Her tight-lipped smile trembled as she shook her head softly, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "It's not enough," she whispered weakly. "It's never enough…"_

 _._

 _"_ _It was… more than I could do…" He ground his teeth with his wheeze of pain, his fingertips encasing hers with their desperate reflex to his suffering._

 _._

 _"_ _Laxus… you need to rest," she whimpered out softly. She was unable to stop the flow of her tears as she watched his struggle. It scared her. He wasn't meant to fall. "You're the strongest wizard I know… You'll get through this…"_

 _._

 _He scoffed in amusement, his breath hitching with his efforts immediately after. "Yeah, when your brother isn't around."_

 _._

 _"_ _Please be serious," she offered weakly. "For once-"_

 _._

 _"_ _I don't care about... what happens to me," he admitted in defeat. His broken spirit shattered her reserve as she watched him redirect his attention to his fallen companions. "If you've got anything left, give it to them…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Laxus…"_

 _._

 _"_ _They deserve better than this… than me…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Please-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Are you gonna do it?" He interrupted her, unwilling to start a fight over the matter._

 _._

 _Neirah's eyes widened as he turned his attention back to her startled expression. "D-do…?"_

 _._

 _"_ _She said she could help," he acknowledged swiftly. "Are you gonna let her?"_

 _._

 _"_ _You… you were awake the whole…" She didn't have time to be embarrassed. Neirah caught her breath when the door to the infirmary opened upon Porlyusica's return, and just as she scrambled to her feet to meet her with the decision she had yet to ponder, Laxus caught her hand with whatever strength he could muster. "Wh-?"_

 _._

 _"_ _Hey," he murmured weakly. "Don't forget it goes both ways, Little Lightning…" Her wide and trembling stare remained despite the bashful flushing in her cheeks begging her to turn away. But what tore at her insides, was the exhausted smile he flashed back at her. "We're a team. You won't be alone in this fight either…"_

 _._

 _"_ _A… team…?"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"A team…?" Evergreen whispered. "But, I don't think – they've ever taken a single job together."

.

"It doesn't seem like they had to," Freed assured her. "This is nothing but the transfer of events I watched and heard transpire. I don't pretend to have all the answers."

.

"You tellin' me all those times she out and out roasted him, she was actually coverin' up that she was into the guy?"

.

"Women work in funny ways…" Evergreen shook her head, recalling the events that saw her ease up on the girl. "But I don't think Neirah does," she whispered. "Remember just after the Grand Magic Games, when we were trying to force her out of the guild?"

.

"You mean when _YOU_ were trying to force her out," Bickslow argued.

.

"Fine. I'll admit, I didn't like the thought of sharing a guild with her after what Marionette had done to Laxus. But what I want to point out is that that day seemed to be special to Neirah. It was when Laxus remembered when they first met."

.

"First met?" Freed encouraged. "It wasn't in the cathedral eight years ago?"

.

Evergreen shook her head. "It didn't sound like it, no. That's what was frustrating Laxus when we got back from Tenrou. She claimed she knew him but he couldn't remember her and it was probably heartbreaking for her. She could have been sassing him for that all this time."

.

"Dude. How is it even possible to forget that much crazy?"

.

"How is it possible that we are only just concluding that Laxus and Neirah have been in love for over a year?" Freed announced smoothly. He closed his eyes to linger on the truth. He could feel the table grow silent around him, but he didn't mind. The elephant in the room needed to be addressed. "We can't keep treating her like an outsider," he reasoned gently. "I can't… Not when I know that she worked herself sick to try and help us when all we've done is reject her presence."

.

"Why would he hide this from us?" Evergreen whimpered softly.

.

"Like I said, I don't think even they really wanted to admit what was happening or maybe they really didn't see it." Freed shook his head softly. "Of that, I'm not certain. But I do know that the master does not approve of Neirah's being here and even less of Neirah being close to Laxus. It occurs to me that the master's hesitancy has been hindering Laxus' acceptance of the girl himself."

.

"You think the master's the reason Laxus has been keeping it a secret?" Bickslow pried.

.

Evergreen shook her head. "Impossible. If we can figure it out, the master would be able to see right through it for sure."

.

"That isn't the point," Freed stated softly. He lowered the volume of their conversation so not to attract too much attention. "My point is that if Laxus really does feel that way about this girl, I think we can all agree his life is forfeit in the off chance she is put in danger. It's likely he'd give just as much as he would give any of us."

.

Evergreen's breath caught in a panic. "And the master doesn't seem to think she'll return to the guild!"

.

"I am _not_ likin' the math my brain is doin' right now," Bickslow agreed.

.

"Listening to Erza speak with the unfortunate child, I learned that they have come from Lysar, a small fishing town about four days from here. The child said that a kind woman sent her to Fairy Tail. If that's true, there is no doubt in my mind that woman was Neirah, someone who knows that we have Wendy and Porlyusica to treat magical illnesses. If Infinity Dragon really is trying to stop the resurrection of a dragon god, I feel like that is something I want to help prevent." Freed laid out his plan, hoping his friends would back him. It was killing him to be parted from their companion only to sit and wait for the news that something terrible had happened. "It's a start," he added sheepishly.

.

Bickslow turned and looked at Evergreen. Obviously Freed had been considering the situation for a long time. "Well…?"

.

Evergreen looked back and then shifted her gaze to Freed's. "Are we really going to disobey the master? And if we did, Laxus would be furious. Who's to say we won't just get in their way?"

.

"No one," Freed assured her. "Now I don't know about the two of you, but I owe Neirah a debt," he assured them certainly upon climbing to his feet. "For this, I will go regardless."

.

Bickslow sighed and climbed to his feet with a lazy chuckle. "Well fuck, guilty conscience much," he crooned. He cast his gaze down to where Evergreen still sat. "What'd'ya say, Ever?"

.

Evergreen was the most hesitant of the three. Of all of them, she had always been the hardest on Neirah; had even gone so far as to try and bully her out of the guild. It's true that their priority was Laxus. Freed was right. It was in Laxus' nature to defend and if he really did have feelings for her, and she really did intend on sacrificing herself for some purpose or another, he would be the first to interject.

.

She slowly climbed to her feet and joined their gazes. "I'd say… let me go home and pack my battle boots."

.

Freed nodded with a grateful smile, making sure their plans hadn't been overheard. "Thank you," he assured them softly. "We'll keep this between us and in the morning, we'll depart for Lysar."

.

* * *

.

Lucy sat on the guild's front step with her knees to her chest and her hands over her face. She had needed some fresh air after the experience she'd just suffered in the hall. The man brought to them was barely clinging to life by a child who was suffering mutilation to try and save him. The tragedy that it was likely neither of them would survive was tearing her apart. 'They were innocent,' she mused bleakly. 'What would a person like Zade do to an _enemy_?'

.

"Yo." Lucy turned her alarmed gaze to where a sheepish Natsu had joined her side. "Can I sit?"

.

Lucy smiled humbly and held out her hand. "Just so long as you don't freak out again. I don't know if I can take much more stress this week."

.

"Yeah, sorry about that…" He groaned impishly, scratching the back of his head. "I'm just not used to bein' left behind, y'know? I hate sitting on the sidelines just waiting. Waitin' for war, waitin' for some impending apocalypse. It's not like the Fairy Tail we left a year ago. They wouldn't abandon one of their own to face a threat like that…"

.

Lucy watched his fists clench impatiently before she smiled and clutched her knees. "I think a lot of people agree with you," she whispered gently. "Everyone's been so on edge ever since the master got back. Even Cana has slowed down with her drinking because she's so worried about her precious Nei." Her gaze narrowed on the town bustling about ignorantly before her. "There's something we're not being told," she whispered in frustration. "Something important that the master knows."

.

Natsu looked back at Lucy sadly before staring out vacantly in the same direction. "So, this is it, huh? There're some creepy jerks out there tryin' to resurrect a dragon and I have to sit here on my ass and wait for it to happen."

.

Lucy thought about his comment for a long moment, her thoughts rampant with possibilities. Finally, she drew a deep breath and climbed to her feet.

.

"Hey, where're you goin'?"

.

She drew in another hearty breath before turning and looking down at him. "Lysar."

.

Natsu's eyes grew wide as he processed her statement. "The town the little girl was from?"

.

"She said that a kind lady told her to bring her grandfather to Fairy Tail. Only they could help him. That person obviously knew that we had Wendy, that's why they told her that sky magic could help him." Lucy grunted delicately as she turned and narrowed her gaze on the horizon with determination. "Neirah is out there fighting for her life against a sicko that doesn't deserve the one he was given! I can't just sit back and watch." She paused for a moment thinking about how much trouble she'd be in if their master found out. Would she really risk losing her place in the guild? "I-I'm going to Lysar. Neirah and the others can't be far from there and it's possible that they need our help. This isn't the Fairy Tail that I left, and if I want it back, I have to fight for it."

.

She turned back to a still, astounded Natsu. "Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded gently. "I understand that Alvarez is still a threat that we need to contend with but the rumour is that Zeref hasn't moved to invade yet. If that's case, we still have time to find Infinity Dragon and help bring them home."

.

Natsu's face lit up with a powerfully genuine smile, an impish giggle escaping him. "Wow Lucy, you really got stronger in a year."

.

Lucy's breath caught and her cheeks coloured with his compliments before she was smiling back. "Y-yea… I guess I did."

.

"I'll go with you," he announced. Before she could deny him, he was continuing. "We'll be able to track them quicker with my nose. I knew there was somethin' strange about that guy when he got here because I know I smelled Shads on him."

.

Lucy gasped. "I was right."

.

Natsu snickered. "You musta gotten smarter over the past year too."

.

"Not funny!" She bellowed.

.

Lucy's attention was drawn suspiciously to the guild hall doors as someone approached them and her heart sank. She just prayed it wasn't Master Makarov.

.

"Take me with you…"

.

Lucy's eyes widened. "Levy…"

.

She shook her head, already packed beneath her magic council jacket. "I can't stand thinking that Gajeel needs me and I'm not there. We spent the last year as a team and… I guess I'm not ready to lose that. I know he did what he did to protect me, but… if we really are a team, I need to protect him too, right?" Her grip tightened around a book in her arms as she joined them. "I mean, I decided I'm going anyway, but the company sure would be nice." She giggled softly.

.

"That book…" Lucy whispered. "The Kho'Misika N'Ahrai."

.

Levy nodded grimly. "Shads gave it to me before she left and told me to hold it for her until she got back. She made me promise… promise that no one would read it. I don't want to leave it in my room if I'm going to disappear without a trace, y'know?" She bowed her glossy hazel gaze. "I mean, only Shads and I can read the script, but… you can never be too careful. I know this book means a lot… to her."

.

Lucy smiled sadly. "Yea…"

.

"Alright!" Natsu announced, glaring wickedly towards the horizon. "I'm all fired up now!"

.

"Can you maybe get fired up a little quieter?" Lucy pleaded. "We're going for stealth here."

.

"Look who you're talkin' to, Lu."

.

Lucy joined him and watched the city move beneath the feet of people without a care in the world, but for Fairy Tail, there was only one care; finding and reuniting the only family they'd known.

.

Natsu threw his hand up in the air. "Alright, you fake dragon freak! Give us back our sister!"

.

* * *

.

Makarov sighed, his eyes closed as he listened to the guild bustle, his lips pressed against his mug. "And another day without war passes," he muttered grimly. He slowly opened his eyes to look out into the emptying guild hall. "How many of them do you bet'll be gone by morning?"

.

Jura rumbled a soft, low laugh. "Knowing Fairy Tail?" He teased, joining Makarov in watching the sunset through the guild doors. "I'd say about half a dozen or so."


	9. My Second, My Sin

_**My Second, My Sin**_

* * *

.

.

Neirah stared grimly into the ashes of the campfire smouldering lifelessly at her feet beneath the pelting of the rain pouring down. It rained upon that mountain face more than she had remembered from when she was a child. When she was residing there with the Golden Dragon Divine, she was always comfortable.

.

But no longer.

.

She blinked profusely, trying to keep the rain from drying her eyes like there was a chance they'd ever been moist. The screams and agonised cries of the people to suffer in Lysar three weeks prior had broken her. No matter how badly she wanted to mourn their loss with her tears, they wouldn't come. She couldn't be sad anymore. As the casualties accumulated, her heart hardened. She couldn't be sad, she was livid.

.

She tipped her head back and considered the dull grey sky. Moments later, she was flinching alertly to the East where a grim warning of thunder came calling. With its rumble, she turned her weary gaze to the break in the mountain and decided to join the rest of her guild indoors.

.

Arihana was the first to offer her attention. "Empress, would you like some s-"

.

"I'm not hungry…" Neirah frigidly brushed the kind woman off, her leather heels clicking swiftly through the musty halls upon her exit. Even the ice wizard was chilled to the bone with her mechanical retort.

.

"Was kinda rude," Damion muttered roguishly. "She didn't expect savin' the world ta be easy, did she?"

.

"Damion."

.

The water wizard was the second to freeze in place and he slowly turned his mechanical attention to where their company called back to him. "Yeah masta?"

.

"Any news on Alvarez and/or their advance?"

.

Damion looked to where Edolas Neirah shook her head in confirmation. "Still nothin'," he assured her. "Zeref's still on our turf, for whatever reason. When he jets back, you'll be the first ta know."

.

Neirah's gaze narrowed on the path she took towards what remained of Kairyn's office deep beneath the mountainside. "At least something has come of the past month," she hissed to herself during her departure. She slowly yanked off one of her sopping leather gloves and ignored the lightning wizard sitting at the table across from her desk in solitary silence, but she was aware of his lingering gaze. She snorted derision. "Too good to sit on the ground with the rest of your guild?"

.

Laxus rolled his lethargic gaze to where the woman clipped by him with impatience in her authoritative tone. "Figured being second in command should have a few perks," he announced evenly. "Sittin' in a damn chair is all the reward I get for putting up with your crap."

.

"You diminish the reward of remaining free to keep that miserable attitude," she announced snidely. "Trust me, that is rewarding enough considering how absolutely infuriating I find it."

.

"Wouldn't wanna get rusty. If we went back home without that, the old man would definitely think your some sorta demon spawn." He wanted to draw energy from their banter but she seemed to be closing him out, back turned and tense. He dropped his gaze with the weight of defeat. He'd just have to try harder to work a rile out of her. "S'been a while since I've seen you that wet."

.

She was sure he meant to be flirtatious with his dig, but she wasn't in the mood to indulge him with a response.

.

Curious, his weighed gaze cut from beneath his brow to where her figure stilled tensely and he gave a gentle scoff as he raised his glass to his lips. "Brings back memories."

.

Before the liquor in his glass could meet his tongue, Neirah had drawn off her second black, elbow-length glove and whirled to snap them both across his cheek. "I didn't give you that to drink yourself into a stupor."

.

He itched to rub at the tender swell of his cheek and ease the burning of her mark, but he bit back his furious hiss in bearing instead. "I'll have you know I could empty this in a sitting and still walk straight," he warned her bitterly. "I trained with the best, you know."

.

"Cana isn't here to defend you so you'll be keeping the drinking to a minimum," Neirah quipped before floating across the room to retrieve the half-emptied bottle from him.

.

"I _just_ sat down." He hated how pitiful he sounded, being parted with the bottle like he was a nursing child.

.

"Don't care."

.

He groaned dismally, trying not to linger too closely on the way her body moved beneath her soaking wet attire. He heaved a heavy sigh and wrapped his hand around his glass. "You seriously don't have anyone else to crack the whip on? Your brother's been sleeping all day."

.

"Sleeping won't kill him."

.

"Liquor won't kill me," he defended.

.

Neirah sighed and turned to face him, her expression utterly exhausted. "No, but I might." She paced the dingy office and searched her belongings for dry clothes as she observed him take his glass up in his hand to drink from it, slight amusement warming her bitter heart. "You're using a glass today, I see," she sassed. "What's the occasion?"

.

He quirked his head to one side, his gaze no livelier. "We're still alive, that's about all the occasion I need right about now," he assured her slyly. He closed his eyes as she rolled hers upon passing, an impish smirk on his lips. "Cheers."

.

Just before Laxus could take a drink from his cup, he heard the earth-shattering sploosh of a drop of murky water leaking from the ceiling into his beverage. His brow furrowed grimly as he literally watched the sludge shift around in the fluid until his hand was slamming onto the table and shoving it away. "This fucking day," he growled.

.

Neirah gave a startled shriek as the walls shook around her beneath the impact of lightning obviously nearby, the crack of thunder deafening in their hall beneath the mountain.

.

Laxus raised a curious gaze from behind the cigarette he was trying to light. "You've gotta be kidding me," he muttered sarcastically. He sat back with the lit butt pinched tightly between his teeth. "You still don't do thunder, huh?"

.

Neirah's glare was venomous as she whirled back to face him. "Go stand outside and do that!" She raged.

.

"You know I can't make it stop."

.

She pinched her fingers in the drawer she slammed, her seething hiss mixed with her pained whine. "No, but I would feel a heck of a lot better if I knew there was a lightning rod keeping the storm at bay."

.

Laxus scoffed and kicked his feet up on top of the table he was sitting at. "Go do it yourself, Princess. You got a partial immunity that should do you for a couple volts."

.

Neirah whirled around to face him with a furious snap in her jaw. "You know I can't absorb elements like the rest of you! I'd basically be taking it until I couldn't stand anymore!"

.

"Tsk." He couldn't help the perverted smirk on his lips. "Doesn't that sound familiar. Guess it's the same for any storm…"

.

"Where are all my clothes!?" She shrieked feverishly through her humiliation.

.

Laxus opened one eye and glared back at her from beneath a creased brow. "How the fuck am I supposed to know? I don't keep track of things once they're off your body."

.

Neirah may as well have teleported with how quickly she ghosted through the shadows across the room and snatched the cigarette from between his teeth. She glared at him sternly, her gaze hot with fury as her fist ignited and saw the ashes of his poison slammed beneath her palm against the tabletop. "You are getting _far_ too bold today," she cautioned him maliciously. She absolutely loathed how casual he remained beneath her wrath.

.

"Get over it," he demanded irately as he reached for a replacement to the narcotic she'd stolen. "We're alone back here and my hands are where you can see them." He finished his retort with clenched teeth as his second hand rose to ignite a flame to the end of his cigarette. "Can't blame a guy for tryin' to get his kicks while he can."

.

"Filthy habit…" Neirah snatched the roll away from him before it could light, slamming it beneath her palm too. "Do you think of no one but yourself?!" She sneered edgily. "Laxus, we have lost a town a week since Lysar and still haven't managed to find a single trace of Zade! The magic council is involved now, the Fiore _army_ is involved now, and _we're still the bad guys_! We have been searching for almost a month with absolutely nothing to show for it!"

.

"Maybe you don't," he quipped back impatiently. Her breathing hitched hesitantly as he sat forward in his seat and her attention was drawn to the scar crossing from his sternum about six inches into his right pectoral. "We've been going at this with one-hundred and ten the whole time. All I'm trying to do is take a minute to recharge. You're not the only one that's stressed right the hell out over this, Sweetheart."

.

Neirah winced as another crack of thunder shook the walls around them. She turned her startled cries into words in hopes to hide how much she hated the spontaneous banging. "It doesn't make sense!" She denied. "I had no problems tracking him before you fought!"

.

"Oh, so this is _my_ fault?"

.

"I didn't say that!" She fumed. "I haven't even come close to smelling him on the towns that he's gotten a hold of but the magic is unmistakably his!"

.

"Damion did say he was smart-"

.

"But not invisible!" She demanded frantically. "Laxus, innocent people are dying and the world thinks that I am the one killing them! They can't stop Zade if they can't associate him with the crime! We're alone in this fight!"

.

Laxus reached out and tugged on her skirt hard enough that she fell into his lap. He didn't delay in wrapping his strong arms sternly around his squirmy guild master. "Stop," he ordered. "You're gonna burn yourself out."

.

Neirah got frustrated with trying to pry him from against her, so much so that she ghosted through the shadows of his presence to free herself. "Don't you dare try and tell me what to do," she snarled in demand upon taking a defensive stance against him.

.

He climbed to his feet, just as eager to throw down as she was. "That's what a second in command does. Keeps the leader's head in the game."

.

"Laxus, you are doing the exact opposite! You aren't even-" She whimpered when he bolted forwards and snagged a hold of her again. Why he thought that it would end any differently than the first time was beyond him.

.

"For all those sheltered cult kids out there, this is what a panic attack looks like."

.

"I'm not panicking! I'm being realistic!" Neirah covered her ears with the next clap of thunder, another alarmed squeal on her lips.

.

Laxus took the opportunity to close in the last step between them and press her against the wall she was cowering near. He admitted he could have probably been a little gentler in doing so, but if she was going to crack, gentle wouldn't cut it. "You're a fucking nightmare," he warned her grimly in a husky rumble. "You think everyone else isn't worried that we've all been labelled criminal over this little stunt of yours?" His gaze narrowed on hers as she seethed defiance. "The only one who needs to be strong right now is a complete fucking basket case. If you lose it, I'm gonna lose it. And without us, the whole fucking thing falls apart."

.

She hated how right he was, but he wasn't right enough to keep her from fighting how close he'd managed to become during their argument. "Get. off me," she ordered.

.

"Why? So you can pace the room about another hundred times pretending you're looking for something that obviously isn't here? Face it, Sweetheart, you're here because I'm here. That's all you needed."

.

"I need some air!" She argued.

.

"So, what I'm hearing is that you need to go stand outside in the pouring fucking rain in already soaking wet clothes," he retaliated. "Wanna know how else things can start to fall apart real quick?"

.

She hated how logic was being thrown at her like she didn't have any. It made her rethink her entire approach to their situation. It was why Laxus was the one she wanted at her side. Even if they fought, they always managed to keep each other grounded. Sometimes, she actually did need someone to tell her the unadulterated truth of how absolutely ridiculous she was being and he was the only one bold enough to do that. "If you don't move, I'm going to set you on _fire_."

.

His sinister sneer neared her face with his confidence. "You know full well that all you need to do to get away is walk right fuckin' through me." His challenge was received in full force and it was noted in the shift of her furious gaze. "If you didn't want to be here, you wouldn't be."

.

He had to say he was a little surprised when Neirah's fists ignited and she lunged towards him with a furious cry of frustration. She came at him so quickly, and with so much power behind her strike that he was forced on his toes in order to defend himself from her wrath. "If you think comin' at a guy with fire who kept Natsu in line all this time is a good idea, be my guest."

.

"I. will. _NOT_ repeat myself!" Neirah roared, filling the room with dark sparks.

.

Laxus stood broadly across the room from her, keeping himself resolutely between her and the door as his own lightning leapt from his tense forearms. "That makes two of us…"

.

* * *

.

Pantherlily shuddered, his little ears pinched to his head as the storm raged outside their cavernous guild hall. He glanced at Gajeel sleeping peacefully alongside him as a cool perspiration beaded on his fur. "I don't know how it's possible for him to sleep through all this," he forced out skittishly. "If all this maritime thunder doesn't bring this mountain down on our heads, Laxus and Shadow's fighting certainly will."

.

Edolas Neirah tapped Lily gently on the shoulder before handing him a set of earplugs. "Here," she encouraged softly. "It will help you get some sleep."

.

Lily looked back at the woman appreciatively as he accepted her gift. "I- thank you."

.

"The thunder doesn't bother me too much anymore. We had to deal with a lot of things like this when Master Kairyn was still around. I guess the rest of us got used to it."

.

Lily nodded gratefully to the loli child. "I hope I never have to…"

.

She giggled at his small joke. "Wanna sleep on my lap?"

.

Pantherlily froze halfway through installing his earplugs. "Say what?"

.

"Well, even if you can talk, you're still a cat," she mused out loud. "I'm just saying, I wouldn't find it weird if you wanted to snuggle like one. At least until the storm goes away. Who knows! It might help." She giggled innocently with a broad, bashful grin.

.

Pantherlily thought on the girl's suggestion for a moment before turning to face the sound asleep Gajeel. Edolas Neirah may have caused Gajeel a great deal of grief, but inside, she was very similar to the Earthland Shadow that they knew and loved. "Well, maybe just this once," he murmured with a soft blush in his creamy cheeks.

.

She snickered gently and offered him a spot on the blanket across her lap. "Don't worry, I won't tell him."

.

Lily smiled and set his other earplug in his ear. "That would be most appreciated."

.

Damion sighed and winced with the sound of furniture crashing in the office down the long hallway. A part of him worried that when silence came, the entire underside of the mountain would reek of blood. It was something he never got used to. "Someone's gotta have a damn good reason that we're stuck with the loosest cannons in Fiore's entire kingdom," he groaned dismally. "I hope I meet 'em someday so I c'n bash their teeth in."

.

Arihana purred from against his chest before giving it a gentle kiss. "The Empress has been so stressed lately," she cooed. "She hasn't been sleeping or eating. Maybe the violence is how she releases it."

.

"I'm startin' to think that's a Fairy Tail thing," he agreed. "Must be why she keeps the zappy bro around. He's like her walkin' scratchin' post."

.

Arihana responded with an angelic giggle and a gentle fwip of the fist she pretended was a paw. "Merowl ~"

.

Wavebreak paled anxiously before encouraging her to adjust her demeanour. "Not here, Snowflake."

.

* * *

.

Neirah gave an agonised battle cry of pain as she was slammed between her lover and the weathered timber of the tattered guild wall. Her nails were sinking into his face as she clutched him deeper into their furious kiss, dark moans of loathing and ecstasy filling her chest.

.

He didn't think it would end, the time he was forced to ignore the way her body called for him. He hated it, how easily she could control him, how desperate he was to bend to her every whim. He was so helpless to fight it that the moment she whined like a bitch in heat, he was ripping down everything in his path to get to her; even if it was her wrath itself.

.

His thoughts were no longer his own. He became sickeningly alert to the way her body shuddered and writhed, desperate to find the buttons he needed to press to see their entanglement last. She was his ultimate sedation, he didn't need anything else. If he could have only held her every night since their first, he wouldn't be wound nearly as tightly as she was. But he was. Both of them; strung out and wracked over their bleak reality. Having her hands on him, desperate and demanding, was all he needed to completely numb his senses and escape it. She could keep his liquor, so long as he could drink her in every chance he got.

.

Neirah threw her head back to break their kiss with a fierce groan that one might mistake for combatant exhaustion. She could barely pry her hands out of his hair, they were so tightly clenched, but she managed, if only for a moment.

.

Her thighs were fiercely tight around his hips, the heels of her boots sinking into his haunches until he moaned his discomfort against her collar. She unclasped the chain at her collar and pressed the top of her sleeveless shirt over her shoulders until the material lingered in the crooks of her arms and exposed painfully tight nipples to the cold, damp air. "Suck them," she ordered breathlessly. She wasn't even trying to keep her more intimate commands from the keen ears of their followers. She returned her hands to his hair forcing him upon her with a hungry growl. "Now!"

.

Her body was on fire for him. She hated to admit it, but as the days stretched out, she was becoming weaker and weaker. She was left so sensitive some nights that she would actually mimic his touch beneath her blankets, trying desperately to release herself from the pent lust dulling her senses to the real troubles they faced.

.

Her skull snapped back against the wall in reflex, her whole body tightening as his tongue laved at her swollen flesh. "Harder!" She demanded, maybe a little louder than she should have. The itch beneath his contact was making her toes curl, charging her with enough static to draw in every snap of lightning from outside their walls. "Don't be gentle!"

.

He tipped his gaze back to hers as he narrowly retrieved his face from her bust beneath her need. "You could at least apologise for being such a cunt earlier."

.

"I swear to infinity, Laxus, I will end your life!" She roared desperately without restraint. She yelped as the force she used to demand his return was paid forward in full when his teeth clamped onto one of her overbearingly tight nubs. He'd never come down on her so hard before, but she didn't detour him, not this time. Her body was overheating and no matter how hard he pinched and sucked at her flesh, she couldn't get enough. Her loins were burning, her breasts so engorged and desperate for his touch that she was afraid she'd lit them both on fire.

.

"Tell me you missed me," he demanded softly through his teeth.

.

Neirah's hips rocked against where she felt his erection pinched against her beneath his pants. He may have wanted her voice to fill him with purpose, but she was still in control, and she wanted _him_ to fill _her_. She tightened her grip on his hair, arching her large, soft breasts deeper into his mouth to claim more pressure from his affections. "So much…" Her body was so hot that her sincere whisper escaped her like steam from a kettle. "I didn't know it was possible… to ache so badly for this…"

.

Her words gave him strength and a little more of a libido boost than he probably needed. He drew her from the wall and groaned into the kiss he forced on her, his hands wrapped tight around her athletic backside. He shifted a couple feet before dropping his tight fist to the desktop beside them and clearing its contents entirely to the floor with a loud crash. He dropped her rump to the rough surface before sinking his fingers into one of her breasts to keep her from scalping him with her need.

.

Neirah tore from their kiss and slammed her forehead into his with a manic hiss. "It hurts," she whispered hoarsely. With her helpless whine, she reached out to clench the material of his shirt in her fists. She jerked the garment rapidly over his shoulders, pressing her breasts firmly against his bare chest as their brows remained locked together. Her words had become so delicate that he could barely hear her over his racing heart. "Make it stop hurting, Laxus."

.  
He groaned his ecstasy as their tongue flirted between immodest kisses. "Fuck, the way you say that _name_ …" To say that he'd taken a trip to cloud nine implied that he had left the grungy office. He'd never thought it was possible, to have her so hot and desperate for him. He had no way of preparing for the overflowing drive it filled him with. He forced a heavy breath from behind his lips as his inhale sucked hers into his kiss, so much eager salivation shared between the two that he thought he'd drown. "You should have come to me sooner," he growled whilst trying to keep the low rasp in his whispers from travelling through the walls. "I could have given it to you… It's been killing me to stay away."

.

Her legs beckoned him closer to the desk, her nails doing the same as they sought to strip the flesh from his back with their support. " _I_ might kill you if you don't stop stalling," she sneered bitterly. She slipped past his kiss and laid her cheek against his temple. "Haah… it didn't feel this good the first time," she panted. "Hold me tighter… Laxus, please don't stop."

.

He pressed against her words, clinging to the needy pleas he got high on. As delighted as he was to hear her beg for his touch, nothing could get him hotter than the delicate scent of blossoms mixed with the unmistakable scent of a woman's desire for a man. He peeled the black panties from her delicate mound and smoothed his finger up between thighs, his heart thundering so passionately against his chest that he wasn't sure his body could handle the pressure. She was almost as damp beneath his fingers as she was when she came in out of the rain and it made his body buck with primal intent against hers. "Fuck," he susurrated in a trembling breath. "You're fucking brother's gonna tear this place apart when he figures out what's going on back here. And he _will_ figure this out."

.

"I don't care!" She whined feverishly, her ears ringing with the next clap of thunder. The sudden thrill of its terror only stimulated her more, her heart palpitating with her ravenous need for the storm enveloping her.

.

Laxus threw his hand over her mouth, the edge of his little finger getting caught between her breathlessly parted teeth. Before she could fight it, he skipped moderation and shoved two thick fingers inside her tight channel, grateful that the scream she offered could have been mistaken for a war cry. "Fuck, come on, think…" He growled bitterly, pumping his fingers inside her to the racing beat of his heart. He needed to be there instead, but the fiercer her stimulation, the more the entire room reeked of sex. To a guild full of faeries, they may have been able to get away with it, but they weren't faeries, they were dragons.

.

Every. Last. One of them.

.

He was conflicted in the moment that he was hit with an idea, his gaze resting on the cupboard where she had stashed the bottle she'd taken from him. If anything stank worse than sex, it was alcohol. He ground his teeth, bearing the pain of hers sinking into his hand with her desperation. It had been almost a month since he'd last held her. Turning away from her wasn't possible.

.

He retrieved his sore hand and threw open the cupboard to recover the bottle. He tore the top off with his teeth, his fingers still knuckle deep inside her writhing body as he considered what he was about to do. He probably could have admitted that he had a problem when he was considering the value of liquor to the pleasures he was about to indulge in. He closed his eyes and pressed his thumb to the neck, raising it between them. With any luck, the sedation of her body bucking so passionately against his was going to hold him for the rest of their journey.

.

Neirah cried out in surprise when he released his thumb, the fluid from the bottle she'd stolen from him spilling over the swells of her breasts. She hated the stink of it, the taste of it on his lips mixed with trace amounts of nicotine. Any other day, she would have been livid, would have torn the bottle from his hand and clapped him with it. But when his lips fell against her nipples, she was submissively silenced, and after a moment of consideration, she realised what he had done.

.

He clasped her nipple between his teeth, the taste of his favourite drink burning on the tip of his tongue as he pitched the empty bottle across the room and into the wall. He couldn't even hear the shattering of its stained glass between the storm raging outside and the storm raging inside him. And then there were her moans, sweet, delighted, desperate. He didn't think anything could be better than the first time he'd laid with her.

.

He had never been more wrong.

.

"Are you going to tell me what you want next?" He patronised ruefully. "Or is it 'too embarrassing'?"

.

Neirah grabbed a hold of his face and snapped it to the side so quickly it made him groan. Her merciless words were pressed to his ear as she whispered them against him. "If you're not inside me in the next fifteen seconds, you really will be seeing stars," she cautioned. Growing desperate with her heady need, she smoothed the flat of her tongue along the channels of his ear. She loved the hoarse whine rising from inside his chest with his sheer delight. "And I don't care how big you are, I want you hip deep at all times." Her orders stirred her own arousal. "Anything less and I swear to infinity I'll rip your cock off."

.

Like she'd suggested, stars flashed behind the fierceness of his sealed eyelids as she sucked on his ear immediately after threatening his manhood. The worst part was the thrill of how badly he wanted to bow to her will instantly afterwards. "Fuck, yes ma'am." The euphoria was devastating, her words so dark, her touch so hot and gentle. She broke him, pushed him to his limits and helped him to define out of control. He wanted to submit to her, he wanted to dominate her, he needed to be everything she wanted him to be all at once. Anything less was unacceptable. It absolutely overwhelmed him until he worried that the itching trigger he had the night they first laid together was going to return. There were times he wondered if just listening to her speak was capable of getting him off; he had truly fallen hopelessly victim beneath her.

.

He withdrew his fingers from inside her only for a moment, hoping the plunge of his tongue behind her teeth would suffice while he jerked her clothes entirely from her body. It wasn't long after, his pants were settling down his thighs and his throbbing erection was clasped tightly in his clammy palm.

.

Neirah's azure gaze was glassy behind the power of her pleasure as she laid eyes on his nearly naked body. She reached her hand out to his and tugged him just a bit closer by the hold she had on his cock. "It looks so painful," she muttered softly. She tried to keep from releasing her saliva grotesquely between wheezing breaths as she tipped the top of her head to his chest and stared down at his flesh between her fingers. "I've never wanted to lick anything so badly," she murmured audaciously.

.

He bowed his head above her, both palms crushing the hardwood of the desk beneath their steeling grip. "You say shit like that and I'm not even going to get in."

.

Feeling triumphantly powerful, she raked her tongue over the scar that had formed on his right pectoral. "When you're desperate like this, you can't keep this up for long, can you? Are you like this with all women?"

.

He threw his head back, his fingers wrapped so tightly around the weathered wood of the desk he was sure it would snap any moment. "Ok, one thing we definitely don't need to add to this night is the innocent little cult kid," he cautioned. "I have a fucking bleeding migraine right now that says if I get any tighter, I'm gonna break." He dropped his head again, an ache in his nape for the tension of craning it to-and-fro to her instigation. "And no… I've never needed someone like I need you…"

.

She smoothed her free palm up over one of his flexed arms, her claws raking over the veins and tendons raising with his strain. "I love seeing you like this," she admitted in a light, exhilarated tone. "So entirely governed by primal lust. I know you don't like it… but maybe it's the beast in me… that needs the beast in you…"

.

As he stared at the wall at her back, his gaze morphed painfully desperate to the sound of her words, to the feeling of her smoothing her wet tongue past his nipple and over his chest. That's when he realised a rather alarming flaw in his plan.

.

Neirah was the most vulnerable lightweight in all of Fairy Tail history.

.

It was once argued that even the _scent_ of liquor could knock her on her pretty little backside and he'd gone and covered her in it. On top of that, he wasn't completely dry. He groaned and sank his fingers into her hair, kneading at her scalp as she pumped her hand over his shaft and sucked at his skin. If nothing else, she had loosened up. The tension had released in her body and she wasn't nearly as edgy. She was just as satisfied as he was, just as completely enthralled with his presence as he was hers. Finally, he felt like he appealed to her, not just in heart, but in body, and the way she worshipped it was pushing him to the brink of destruction.

.

He groaned eagerly and pressed her face away from his body, hating the seductively enchanted look filling her eyes as their gazes were forced to meet. "Do you want me to fuck you or not?" He murmured gently, pressing their lips together even as he spoke. "Because all your teasing is starting to make me wonder if you learned anything from our first time."

.

He had never dreamt that their presences could ever meld so peacefully together, so dangerously passionately. There had always been friction, until that moment. He clasped her face between hands trembling with tension and tried not to pass out with the shallowness of his breaths. "You need me…"

.

Neirah fanned her thighs, hooking one ankle around the backs of his. " _You_ need _me_ …"

.

He drew in a deep breath against her lips. "Fuck, I do…" He groaned, plunging his tongue deep into her mouth until hers was stroking submissively against it. He reached between them and replaced her hand with his, groaning with the pain of the couple tight pumps he gave himself before pressing the head against the heat of her entrance. "You're so fucking hot," he muttered. He hoped she took it literally and not as the compliment it sounded like because he wasn't in the best position to explain himself. "Why didn't you tell me you needed this sooner?" She was feverish. "Fuck, you don't even have to say anything. Just walk in here and get on all fours. I promise I'll make it go away…"

.

Neirah moaned and tugged at his shoulders, encouraging the kisses her laid on her collar. "We can't be alone… we're never alone," she mewled meekly. Her brow knotted as tears finally burned dry eyes. "I just want to be alone with you…"

.

"We're alone now," he sighed. The air between them grew thin as they both tried to fill their lungs with it. "Fuck, we're alone now…"

.

He threw his palm up against her face to muffle her delighted cries, fearing that they were starting to lose the cover of their brawl. His head ached about as hard as his chest around his heart. Sweat slipped down his brow, the tickle making his hand itch, but he refused to move it from her to banish its presence. She had been a snug fit from the start, but the tremoring heat of her core that night was criminal. Every fleshy inch of her body squeezed him, every time she sighed, every time her stomach contracted with his presence filling her.

.

And the heat was unbearable.

.

He drove his hips forward, burying himself to his hips like she'd demanded, and freeing up his hand to press against her brow. The thought crossed his mind like she might have taken fever from the rain, but her whole body was the same temperature and there was nothing weak about the way she held him. The scent of his blood mixed with the alcohol was certainly going to help convince their allies that fighting was all they were up to.

.

He sank his fingertips into her hips, drawing her as tightly to him as he could before repeating his entry. Every time he almost completely left her body and plunged back inside her, her body was shuddering in bliss; her sensation sending sparks right to his own sex drive. To be so needed by the woman he loved was unbearable. Elating.

.

He started to lose himself to the rhythmic bass beneath his chest, his pace hastening past what he'd ever allowed himself to give her. But she never once complained, she took all he had, and still managed to beg for more.

.

And more.

.

"Damn, you're burning up," he growled. He raised one hand to support her head from the desk hutch so the rap of his thrusts didn't see the poor girl concussed.

.

"It still hurts," she whined. She was helpless to catch her breath between moans.

.

"Should I slow down?"

.

 _Please say no. Please say no._

 _._

"I already told you what I'd do if you did!" She demanded frantically. "I can't – the pressure keeps building. Laxus, it's _excruciating_. I can't breathe. It's like I need you deep inside me to remind me how to take a deep breath."

.

 _Just breathe… I'll be your hero._

.

She was begging for fireworks and what he couldn't understand was why he was having a hard time seeing her there when her entire body seemed to be hypersensitive to his touch. Luckily for him, the unimaginable pleasure of him being wrapped up within her wasn't hindering his fervour at all. "What about me?" He encouraged, desperate to know if her body still ached like the night he'd first laid with her. "Inside… does it-?"

.

"So good," she shuddered out helplessly.

.

That was good enough for him.

.

"Shit, hang on," he muttered. He wrapped his palms tight around her bare backside and lifted her from the desk. She seemed alarmed at first but didn't question her relocation. It didn't take her long before she was standing on her own two feet again, looking back at him bemused and wondering what on earth he was thinking to have exited her body.

.

The dangerous look in her eyes had him catching a curt scoff in the back of his throat. "Don't fucking look at me like that," he warned her sternly before grabbing at her arm to spin her a hundred and eighty degrees. He laid his lips in a hard kiss against her neck before offering it a stern bite. "You can put your fangs away, I'm doin' this for you, Princess." He pressed his hand firmly between her shoulder blades. "Down on the table."

.

Neirah's temperature rose wrathfully as she considered striking him. How dare he order her around for a second time that night. Laxus must have obviously sensed her disapproval because before she could raise a hand he was gathering her wrists behind her back and pinning them there before forcing her breasts to the rough table top. "You know I hate repeating myself," he rumbled.

.

One of his hands remained clutching her squirmy wrists as his other curled up between her thighs and milked the fluid from inside her scorching body with rough fingers. "Now spread your thighs."

.

For a moment, Neirah hated being ordered around like a puppet, it chilled her with memories she couldn't stomach, but something about the way he did it made her body ignite in golden flame.

.

And she obeyed.

.

Laxus groaned and pressed his foot against the side of hers. "Wider…"

.

She boldly moaned with the haggard rasp in his demand, her core trembling around the demanding pump of his fingers as he spread her. The table was low and rough against her sensitive nipples, every time he rocked against her it was chafing her erotically. It was considering those sensations that she started to realise why he'd adjusted her.

.

His body was tight with his own need as he withdrew his fingers and considered his folly. He quickly scoured the office with a grim expression on his face, even with her knee-high black leather heels, she was still too small for him to get the leverage he needed to make her whine in such a compromising position. "Damn it… We need to get you a fucking step stool," he snarled impatiently. He thought his plans had been foiled when she simply replied with a vaguely bewildered statement of disbelief but he was resurrecting his success when he found a long, old crate to prop beneath her toes. "Nope, this night was pretty much meant to be perfect."

.

Neirah's expression coloured in humiliation as she was hoisted off the ground like a doll with one arm around her waist and when she was settled back in place, she had elevated about a foot.

.

God, she hoped that their medical supplies would survive whatever he had planned.

.

"Back on the table," he commanded lazily while rolling his fingers over her firm haunches. "I'm not in the mood for games…" His lip quirked bitterly as she lingered unresponsively like she might defy him entirely. "Fuck, I'm gonna slap it…"

.

"Don't you dare!" Neirah demanded in alarm. Unfortunately, the hollowing of her back to face him only thrust her rump more profoundly into his hungry stare.

.

"Back on the table," he repeated sternly in a harsher tone.

.

"Laxus, I swear to infinity-!" Neirah's humiliated screech was piercing as the crack of his open palm met burning flesh. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU-!"

.

A second infraction.

.

He straightened, expanding his chest with a deep, settling breath. It was the only thing that may have been finer than her breasts. He marvelled at how perfectly it filled his palms, so soft and small as he clenched her, squeezed her and learnt the tight swells. "I can do this all day, Little Lightning," he crooned mischievously. "All. the. way. down."

.

Neirah snarled bitterly under her breath as she nearly folded in half to accommodate his request. Her flexibility was certainly taken for granted.

.

Laxus rolled his hand over its own print on Neirah's rosy hindquarters, a look of triumph overcoming him. "That body of yours does scary things to a guy," he admitted in a low, proud growl. He slipped his fingers back inside her slowly but buried them to the knuckle before swirling them inside her core. "There, how does that feel?"

.

Inaudible half-screams filled his ears in response as she pressed her already compromised position to its limits to claim more of him. She didn't know why she felt intimidated by such a plain statement, but she was forgetting she ever was when she felt him line her thighs with the heat of his erection.

.

"Let's see if this doesn't help get you off."

.

Neirah was startled into a surprised frenzy when he slammed back into her body from where he stood at her back. Her first instinct was to pop up with her cry but he seemed adamant about keeping her at the awkward angle she straddled. Her moans were becoming elevated with passion until she was certain they'd be attracting unwanted attention. She quickly threw her hands up over her mouth, stifling them to the best of her ability.

.

Laxus wrapped one arm around her abdomen, making sure she didn't find her way back upright. He found her at just the right angle, he could ravage her without the need to moderate his intensity. Her compensating pose knocked off a bit of penetrable length that only just fit inside her on a good day. He slipped his palm around her front and smoothed it between her thighs, his fingers teasing her exposed clitoris as she spread to receive him. He couldn't help but repeat thoughts of pleasure in his head.

.

 _This feels amazing, this feels amazing, you're amazing._

 _._

 _You're amazing…_

.

He wanted to say something, anything to let her know that he was agonisingly crazed for her, but he was too corrupt with lust. He couldn't do more than groan her name and give it to her harder. Every time his hips met hers, she was pressing into his greed and claiming his intensity with an insatiable hunger. It made him wild. To top it off, she was doing a terrible job at silencing herself. The constant drive of his hips wasn't the only source of stimulation she had to fight. She also had to fight the rousing of her clit and the way her tender nipples scraped against the rough grain of the unfinished wood beneath. He laid his free palm tight against her rosy backside, squeezing the flesh with the tension his body retained while waiting for her to come undone. If the way her core was contracting overpoweringly around his cock was any indication, she was ready to burst.

.

Compared to the first night they were together, Neirah was forced over the edge brutally quickly. Her body started to shudder and shake fiercely against him, her breath so evacuated that she didn't even have much force to offer her overwhelmed screech. In her experience, not much followed the glittering of stars behind her eyes. Usually, the powerful addition of his own climax filling her before exhaustion stole them both. That had certainly been all she'd known the first night.

.

That wasn't what was happening to them the second one.

.

Laxus snapped his teeth shut to stifle his agonised curses as he fought her body's beckoning. Luckily for him, the sentimental garbage that had him so weak to her their first night wasn't plaguing him so fiercely in the moment her knees sought to give out beneath her.

.

He threw his arm around her waist and kicked the box she was standing on to the side, the force of it hitting the wall popping its glossy lid off their guild's medicinal stash. Not his concern. He wasn't done with its master. He thumped his knee into her thigh, encouraging the limp appendage to smooth onto the table. She didn't take the hint at first, obviously overwhelmed by his presence still pummeling her even after she'd come undone.

.

Finally, he'd encouraged her entire weight to kneel on the table before him and if he hadn't of, she would have surely struck the floor. Her body was weak and sensitive to him like he'd never seen and if it weren't for his fingers sinking strongly into her hips, she probably would have fallen flat on the table top.

.

He couldn't believe that he had managed to survive another crippling wave of her climax burning around his cock inside her. She was a sopping mess, unhinging again and again. She was almost so sensitive to him that he actually feared that she might lose consciousness before they were finished; something that was becoming a more frantic realisation when her moans started to silence.

.

He sank his fingers into her skin and rolled her onto her back against the table beneath him. He was helpless before the vaguely blissful smile on her lips and the way her tears glossed her eyes with the power of her sedation. He was grateful to see that he hadn't completely incapacitated her. "You gonna make it?" He pestered, pressing his lips to hers with a playful smirk.

.

"Any more, and you're going to have to get me off this table with a mop and bucket," she cautioned him spiritedly. Her giggle was weighted and filled with moans of utter bliss.

.

He stroked the hair from her brow that had clung to the sweat on her body. It was _not_ going to be easy to hide what they'd done when their guild was without a shower of any sorts. He leant down and pressed his brow to hers, just listening to the way she breathed, feeling her tight body around him. "You make me weak," he admitted lovingly.

.

Neirah gently rolled her head against his, a delighted giggle on her flushing features. "Says the beautiful beast who still stands." She whined as he pressed inside her from the front, removing all restrictions on his depth. She hollowed her back with a deep, sedated moan and just felt every inch slip effortlessly inside her.

.

"For the moment," he murmured gently upon folding his body intimately over hers. He fondled the roots of her hair with his hands laying alongside her head. "It's your eyes that kill me."

.

She didn't know whether she should look back at him quizzically or hide her gaze to save his life; she went with the first, hoping that he didn't feel threatened by her challenging his existence for the umpteenth time. "I'm sorry?"

.

"They scream a million things all at once… your secrets… I can see everything."

.

Her arms fell around him, clutching his hips deeply to hers. She didn't want to challenge the skill he seemed to think he possessed, but she couldn't help but stare vacantly back at him with slight terror crossing her gentle features.

.

 _Her secrets._

.

She lurched forwards and quickly kissed him, her heart racing in her ears as she pressed to distract him. "If you can see so much, then you'd know that you have yet to satisfy me."

.

He groaned lightly against her audacity, his nose brushing against hers as she sank her nails into his lower back. "You're so abusive," he rumbled hungrily.

.

"I don't need your eyes to tell me that you like it."

.

He covered her lips with his, swallowing her moans as he resumed a steadily intimate pace above her. He had feared that after her first time she'd become as addicted to him as he was to her. Maybe feared was a strong word, but he knew that if they had any hope in concealing their courtship, they'd have to take a long step back and realise that their taboo actions were risking the structural integrity of their guild.

.

Realising anything other than his complete adoration for the woman writhing seductively in his arms seemed like a long step in the _wrong_ direction but one he was all too eager to take. Adding their lusting submission to the battles they'd had since the day they'd met was dangerous. He couldn't remember a time where he'd been so unbearably hot for another. He felt like sin incarnate, sustaining life on every toxic pleasure he could get his greedy hands on, but he didn't want to stop.

.

He didn't think he could.

.

His headache didn't appreciate the last hungry howl she released with another crippling wave of euphoria tightening the fleshy walls of her body around him, but he wouldn't have it any other way. He had become a fool for her love, or he admitted it like he hadn't been from the start. The nearness, the feeling of being so deeply entwined with her, it was all he needed to chase her into oblivion.

.

The things she'd done to him, to his heart, they shouldn't have been possible. They should have been forbidden. It was hard enough for him to stay away when all he wanted to do was hold her against him and kiss every ounce of pain from her beautiful blue eyes. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her, losing his light in a world so dark and grim. She was the hope for a better future, a future that would be theirs. The salvation of his soul rested in her tiny hands, and he'd glimpse the darkest pits of hell to see her free of the burdens she was forced to bear.

.

Neirah's eyes were filled with the warnings of tears as he drew her upright into his chest and clutched her tightly in his embrace the moment the power of his completion had seen him able. She was so emotionally wrung through that she wanted to cry, wanted to scream. Instead of any of it, she just clung to him, arms and legs wrapped tightly around his body as she just listened to his heartbeat against the temple resting on his chest.

.

"I think I needed that…" She whimpered breathlessly, listening to how silent the room had become once they'd stopped tossing each other around like enemies.

.

Laxus couldn't help but scoff in amusement at her sentiment. "You _think_?" He challenged.

.

Neirah sipped back a trembling inhale, noticing that the silence she was observing was just that; silence. "When did the storm stop?"

.

He backed away from her curious pout and slipped his fingers through her hair. "When you got louder than it and scared it away."

.

Neirah giggled at the thought. "I thought the calm was supposed to come _before_ the storm?" She teased. "How come being loud never scared you away?"

.

"Because the things about you that scare me turn me on." He placed a hard kiss on her forehead. "So, speaking of storms. You wanna maybe tell me how we're gonna kerb your brother's when he finds out what happened here?"

.

Neirah followed his gaze, looking out into the office that they'd absolutely destroyed between combat and love-making. She didn't raise her gaze to his as she reached out and patted his chest sternly. "Welp, it was nice knowin' you, Sparky," she cooed. She popped from the tabletop to walk out the door in nothing but her knee-high boots. "Rape it is."

.

"I don't think so," he growled in alarm while snatching her arm. Watching her naked hips sway as she walked in her heels was hard enough for him to manage. "If we go down, we go down together."

.

Neirah stumbled weakly back against his chest and tipped her sheepish gaze back towards his. Again, she'd underestimated the power of pleasure when it battled her stride. "Perk or downfall of being a team?" She mused.

.

"I am _not_ facing your crazy brother on my own," he snarled before giving her tipped forehead a stern kiss. "Mainly because when I turn him into a human lightning rod, I'm gonna have his scrawny little sister to contend with."

.

Neirah giggled whimsically as she was hoisted off her unsteady feet in his arms, the spike of her heels digging into his thighs as he set her back up on the desktop behind them. "You haven't called me scrawny for a long time," she tormented.

.

He groaned against her neck as his kisses became wet with the presence of his tongue laving at her perspiring body. "That's because I've got big hands and you fill them so fucking nicely."

.

Neirah whined exhilaratingly as she clutched his head to the sensitive breasts he started to nurse. "So, I'm fat." She instigated conflict without weighing his words as an insult in the slightest.

.

He laid his palms under her arms, smoothing them over the hourglass curves of her body. "You stash it in all the right places," he rumbled. He let his tight grip end on her broad hips, kneading the joint hungrily.

.

She smiled in delight, trying her hardest not to whine as she willingly withdrew his face from her bust. "If you want to help me kill the scent of us in here… I might know of somewhere we can go to take care of each other."

.

"Are you coming on to me again?" He mused. "Because I am so ok with that."

.

"I meant the stink of us," she denied after slapping his bare chest.

.

A wicked grin curled his lips as he checked his shoulder and then turned to face her again. "It's still early… just once more."

.

Neirah moaned toxically with the desperation filling his voice as he begged her for more. "Ok, but make it quick you perverted brute," she scolded. "My poor broken body can't take much more of your ambitions tonight," she fibbed. "And I have one condition…"

.

He didn't bother raising his head from sucking her engorged breasts. "I'm listening..."

.

"Keep your damn head where it is."

.

"Fuck, yes ma'am."

.

He hooked her knees over his elbows as he hoisted her off the desk and pressed her to the wall they'd started against. The act made Neirah clutch his shoulders to see that she wasn't dropped by the awkward folding of her body. She laughed out loud as she was pressed beneath him, her head falling back in delight. "Well, that didn't take long." The presence of his aroused flesh against her tummy had not gone unnoticed.

.

"If you had any idea what you do to me, you'd wonder why it didn't happen sooner."

.

Neirah whimpered as he spread his arms and pressed his knuckles into the wall, taking her knees with them. "L-Laxus," she chided.

.

"You can't honestly have been through all we've done and still be embarrassed." His demands showed no subtly in the way he spread her.

.

She reached down and took a firm hold of his cock, stroking it strongly to encourage his erection to stiffen beneath her stimulation. "I may have needs, but I'll be damned if I don't like to try to remain a little descent while indulging."

.

He growled lightly against her ear, delighting in the feeling of her heat against his shaft as she guided him to press inside her. His smile twisted wickedly with the sound of her breathless wheezes escaping to the girth of his presence returning to her tight body. "Decency died in me a long time ago…"


	10. Past, Present, and Future, By my Side

_**Past, Present, and Future, By my Side**_

* * *

.

.

His steps were rough as he climbed the jagged peaks of the mountain situated on top of their guild, even though all he wanted to do was sleep; for the first time in a week. She seemed pretty adamant about taking him for a stroll, assuring him that it would help cover for their romantic interlude not long before. "I don't know why," he murmured sceptically. "But I'm seeing my life flash before my eyes."

.

Neirah smiled from where she staggered behind him on weak toes, her cloak draped over her naked curves. "This is not where I kill you, Spar-" Her words were stolen by her gentle squeak as she fumbled in her step and started to topple over the rocky face. She was moments from panicking when Laxus reached back and clasped her hand firmly in his.

.

"See? Even the mountain knows better than to let you get away with callin' me that," he teased. He drew her to his side as they continued to climb the mountain together. "I told you, you should have let me carry you." He knew after their bout of lovemaking she would have a hard time walking, and even though she tried, she certainly couldn't keep in a straight line.

.

"Yes," she hummed. "Because that wouldn't have looked suspicious to our guildmates or anything."

.

"They're all asleep and you know it. Stop being so stubborn."

.

She snickered softly to herself and slipped her hood from around her face. "It's ok," she purred. "We're already here."

.

His breathing hitched gruffly as his gaze came to rest on a pool of misting water settled among the mossy peaks of the elevation. "Springs?"

.

"Surprised?" Neirah giggled as she started to descend into the gorge towards the steam rising from one of the three little pools. "Three of 'em, to be exact. And not just any springs, hot ones." She knelt by the side of one of the pools and twisted her fingers in it. "Well, hot-ish," she corrected while snapping the excess water from her fingertips. "It seemed a heck of a lot hotter back when I was a child."

.

Laxus loomed overhead, watching her carefully as she reminisced. "So, the old lizard really raised you here, huh?"

.

Neirah smiled back over her shoulder as she dropped her cloak to the water's edge, her naked body bathed in moonlight as it spilt from the clear night sky. It was certainly hard to tell that not long before the sky was dark and bleak with the presence of a storm. She dipped her toes into the spring and sighed, memories flooding back to her. "He did…" Noticing that his voice had grown distant, she turned and faced him, a playful grin on her lips. "Well? Are you coming?"

.

"If that's an invitation," he instigated.

.

Neirah laughed as her hips swayed with the gentle roll of the water around her submersion. "I didn't bring you here to supervise," she crooned. "I _am_ part water dragon. I doubt I'll drown."

.

He lowered his gaze before shrugging his shirt off his shoulders.

.

"Ooo baby, take it off."

.

He cut his gaze back to hers with her catcalling, growing uncomfortable with the thought of being on exhibition for her. He tossed his balled shirt towards the giddy, giggling nymph and snorted his impatience. "That's not what I was thinking," he assured her swiftly.

.

Neirah delivered his shirt to the rocky ledge and scooted back through the ripples she chased. She sank into the water with a blissful sigh and swirled around in the shallows. "Oh?" She floated around the water, dunking her head back beneath the shimmering ripples to slick her hair back out of her face. It may not have been paradise, but just getting the greasy feeling of sweat and sex off of her skin was an invaluable relief.

.

His pants hit the dirt at his feet before he approached the spring and took a seat on the edge, water warming midway up his shins. He shifted his attention as his little water flower scooted across the spring and laid her arms in his lap.

.

"So? Why so hesitant then?" She crooned, trying not to put too much attention on the breasts she'd smothered his cock with. She reached up and laid a handful of water in his lap, watching it roll over the chiselled lines of his torso. "Or perhaps you preferred to stay dirty?"

.

He looked around them, still amazed that a comfortable oasis like the one they currently sat in existed above their guild hall all along. "I was wonderin' where all the water was coming from in the ceiling down there. Always so damn humid," he acknowledged softly. "Why haven't you told anyone else this is up here?"

.

Neirah hummed gently and turned to sit between his legs, laying her head back against his body. "Can you keep a secret?"

.

He groaned softly and laid his fingers on her shoulders, his overwhelming need to touch her naked flesh sated by the massage he was going to offer her. "That depends," he chided.

.

"If you tell anyone, I'll put you right over the edge of this mountain," she announced in caution.

.

"Then yes."

.

She smiled, closing her eyes and rolling her shoulders as he kneaded them with strong fingers. "This place… this mountain… The reason Kairyn chose to erect a guild here is that he believed it's been blessed by the divine."

.

There was a falter in the pressure Laxus used on her shoulders as he considered her words. "You mean the dragon?"

.

She shook her head. "Only if you truly believe Ryverika was a god like Kairyn did."

.

"You don't sound so sure yourself," he murmured tenderly. He'd never really pried for details of her past no matter how curious he was. It was still a sensitive subject knowing that Ryverika's demise was directly related to his own rebellious actions. "The old lizard raised you. What do you think?"

.

Neirah smiled solemnly, watching the water ripple around her fidgeting fingers. Normally, talking about Ryverika would bring her great joy, but she didn't feel happy when she was asked the question. She was so at peace, held by the man she loved, bathing in familiar waters, it started to make her consider that maybe talking about Ryverika never actually made her happy. Maybe she was finally ready to admit that it did hurt her, to someone she was comfortable enough with to reveal this truth.

.

"I don't think that Ryverika ever wanted to be seen as a god," she whispered delicately. "When he took me in he was so humble, so kind and wise. He didn't seem to hold himself any higher than any other creature in the world and taught me to respect them all in kind. After meeting Igneel and the others back after the fall of the Balam Alliance, well, Ryverika wasn't much different than any of them."

.

Laxus kept a weathered eye on her as she resurfaced the memories, smoothing his thumb over her neck as she swayed it into his palm. If nothing else, his touch seemed to soothe her as she snuggled into it like a frightened pup.

.

"But whether you believe that Ryverika was actually a god, or not, this area remains sacred, protected. It's how I know we're safe here. Safe from Zade, from the Magic Council. They'll never bother us here."

.

Laxus redirected his attention to her with an inquisitive expression on his face. "That's a pretty bold claim to make," he assured her. "How can you be sure?"

.

Neirah narrowly opened her eyes over her contentedly sleepy smile. "Because 'here' doesn't exist." Laxus' fingers stopped moving against her shoulders, forcing her to slap them to get their attention again. "Don't stop," she demanded impishly. "It feels delightful."

.

"You wanna maybe run that by me again?" He encouraged bleakly. "Maybe tell me how we're here if 'here' doesn't exist?"

.

"Don't be so dramatic," she cooed. "It's simple, really, now that I know what Kairyn meant by the ground being blessed. I read it in the journal my mother left me."

.

"Details, woman…" He growled eagerly, tugging on her earlobe until she giggled and shooed him away.

.

"Ryverika may be gone, but his magical footprint still dots the landscape," she assured him tenderly. She rolled her wet fingers over one of his shins. "An ancient protection seal was laid decades ago at the foot of this mountain. Something Ryverika preserved for years to come." She watched the water fall from her fingertips intently, just feeling his body quietly fill with tension as she remained nonchalant. "You can feel it, can't you?" She whispered, rolling her hand over his knee. "The magic surrounding this place? That was why you were hesitant to come closer, wasn't it?"

.

He didn't answer, knowing that she was certain enough that she didn't even need to hear him agree. It was true, he had a keen sense of magic power, something undoubtedly inherited from his grandfather. It wasn't as noticeable at the base of the mountain by their guild, but he knew for sure that something was up as soon as they had finished their climb. But the immense hum of magical energy in the area wasn't what disturbed him. What was, was the fact that he recognised the way the magic felt.

.

He'd recognised it on her.

.

"We're in a rift between times," she assured him gently while ignoring that his gaze lingered on her so warily. "Time doesn't flow here like it does in the rest of the world. One might even suggest that it stands still." She turned and looked up into Laxus' vacant expression, not sure whether it was fear or bemusement that was creasing his brow. "One of Ryverika's greatest talents was the manipulation of time. When I was a child, I had never noticed how long the days were. I never asked how it was possible for him to train me in the arts that took most dragon slayers their entire lives to learn." She turned away from him again and settled back between his legs, looking up into the clear night sky fresh with the damp presence of the rain washing over them about an hour prior. "Ryverika was one of the last living dragons alive who was born as a dragon. He concealed this mountain, lived atop it for centuries; watching, waiting. Not even Acnologia could find him here and if he did, he wouldn't make it past the rift…"

.

"I don't get that…" Laxus almost growled, attracting Neirah's direct attention. "He had the power to end this all before it started. Instead, he wasted away up here all that time and let things get out of control. Zeref, Acnologia, from what I hear he could wipe them off the face of the fucking earth with one attack so why the hell didn't he?"

.

Neirah's brow furrowed sadly. She knew Laxus didn't mean to be so abrasive whilst speaking of somebody who'd meant the world to her. "Because he believed in something that most of them gave up on a long time ago…"

.

Laxus was sceptical as he tipped his head back and glared down his nose at her. "And that is?"

.

"Humanity."

.

Laxus silenced at her side, reconsidering his approach. It was the way she said it like it was cherished, sacred. She whispered it with a strong sense of endearment, even more than how she spoke the great dragon's name.

.

"Even though Acnologia turned down a dark path a long time ago, Ryverika still believed that the power of the man who'd existed before the dragon would bring him back out of the shadows. Maybe he considered Acnologia as acting out like a rebellious teenager. To a dragon almost a millennium old, that's all Acnologia was. To us, it seems foolish, after seeing what the beast became capable of. How heartless he actually is. But to Ryverika, such a simple hope governed the world. He believed that, even though lives were lost over many years of conflict, humanity would learn from their mistakes and grow from the experience. If he had simply ended the blights before they transgressed, there would be no example set, no room for the human race to grow. Mistakes would continue to be repeated until Ryverika met his end and then there would be no hope for the human race."

.

Laxus could hear the shift in her breath sniffing back her tears as she dragged her forearm over her teary gaze in front of him. She was obviously speaking the words from memory and hearing them spoken in the dragon's mighty voice. He didn't dare to interject. He might not have agreed with the logic of the beast, but the woman he cherished more than life itself respected it. Pointing out the flaws of her caregiver probably wasn't the quickest way to a woman's heart.

.

"Ryverika was a dragon of dragons, but even he knew that they had no place in this world anymore." Neirah shuddered, her heart breaking to say the words out loud. She immediately dropped her head, a guilty flush in her cheeks. "The day he surfaced to challenge Acnologia, the day he felt the balance shift, he could only think of one thing, and that was you; his hope for humanity."

.

Laxus turned away, wanting to comfort her but with no idea of where to start. He couldn't change the past, but if he could, he never would have found his way back to Tenrou Island. He knew that he wasn't the hope, Neirah was, but his purpose in Ryverika's eyes was to protect her. He felt manipulated even if he'd never met the beast in the flesh. Ever since he'd been told the story, he felt like he had no choice, that his fate was written for him even before he knew what he was doing. When he stopped to consider how coincidental everything seemed, he couldn't accept that anything other than his own two feet were guiding him. He loved her because he'd fallen in love, not because some divine had their lives mapped out right up until the honeymoon. At least… that's what he kept telling himself.

.

"The day I came back from Magnolia and told him about the boy I met, he knew that there would be hope for me even after he was gone, so long as Fairy Tail's Prince survived. He entrusted your protection to Kairyn after his death. Both of them, gone… for you… for me…"

.

He could hear her heart aching through her meek, shaky voice. "Neirah…"

.

"It's ok," she mewled upon jolting a desperate smile his way. "You didn't know any of this was happening. You didn't ask for it…" She pressed her forehead against his abdomen and closed her eyes. "I had no idea how important you really were the day we met," she whispered. "If I had of known, I would have told him I met someone else, anyone, just so you could be free of my burden…"

.

"Neirah, don't talk like that!" He gently reprimanded.

.

"Even after joining the guild, I had no idea… just how badly I needed you… Ryverika had known all along…"

.

Laxus sighed in defeat, wishing all the while that he had the words to comfort her as she trembled against him. It seemed so strange to consider something had been planned for them all along. All the suffering, all the pain and broken promises. If it was fate, it was a bleak one; one he wished he could spare her.

.

"Maybe it is kinda hard to write it all off as coincidence..." He smiled down at her when she looked back at him, perplexed by his statement. "I mean, something kept our paths crossing. And I don't know about you, but I don't consider myself that lucky. So… maybe there is some truth in all this."

.

Neirah laughed through her sadness and nuzzled into his torso affectionately. "You don't know it's luck," she crooned. "I might be your curse."

.

He leant down and captured her chin in his hand with an affectionate smile. "I'd be ok with that," he rumbled. He placed a gentle kiss on her lips and seeing that she'd calmed down a bit, he moved to adjust the trajectory of their conversation. "So, how did your mother find out about this place to put it in that old book of hers?"

.

Neirah smiled, her cheeks colouring with her bashful guilt. "Because the last people to visit these springs aside from Ryverika and I were my mother and father." She could feel him still against her but she didn't expect him to be comfortable with that kind of pressure, being new to loving each other and all. "This place was special to them… It was the only place they could meet to be truly alone, truly safe from the rest of the world."

.

"Why me…?" He muttered bleakly. "You hold me up like I'm something to be proud of." He sighed grimly and released his hold on her, more than a little disappointed that she'd defiled a place close to her heart with his presence. "I don't deserve that kind of honour…"

.

Neirah climbed to her feet slowly, the water of the spring sliding over olive skin until it rippled around her knees. Once she was standing in front of him, she reached out and wrapped her arms around his head, holding him to her breast so he could listen to her heartbeat. For a moment, she just lingered beneath the light of a crescent moon, the choir of nature filling her with peace.

.

"Because I trust you. In a way that I've never trusted anyone else," she admitted bleakly. "I love my brother, he practically raised me… but there are just some things… I can't tell him. Right from the day we met, no matter how badly we fought or argued… there was always something I cherished about you… A memory, the only one that was truly mine from the very start. No matter how Karua rewrote my story, no matter how many details were lost with my youth, you were always there. Mine. The path beneath my feet that saw me home again and again."

.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked out over the mountainside blooming beneath the moonlight, his head still clutched gently in her arms as his fingers traced the base of her spine. "It was that memory that held me and told me that everything would be ok even when you were distant. I drew my strength from you when I was too afraid to stand up and fight. You never needed to tell me everything would be alright, you made me feel it. You never needed to put your hands on me to touch me in ways that I had never been touched. The way we acted the last couple of years, so distant and cold, it never once caused me pain. You were there, always a memory. Mine. Whenever I needed you…" She smiled against his golden locks. "I can admit that I never once thought that I would be holding you, here, like this." She closed her eyes and slipped her fingers through his hair, her whisper breathless against him. "But a part of me promised that you would be the only one I would share it with."

.

Neirah's heart skipped a beat as his arms slowly came around her body, clutching her so tightly that she thought she might break. His face was still laid against her chest when she heard his breathing hitch among the cricket's song in the reeds. She thought about pulling away from him, but when she felt the heat of tears rolling silently over her breasts, she stilled, allowing him the moment he needed to comprehend the depth of her sentiment.

.

It was impossible.

.

He heard the words, replayed them over and over in his head but he couldn't make himself believe her. He ground his teeth fiercely, his body starting to shake with the tension he displayed in clutching her so strongly.

.

It hurt.

.

Every word a shot through his heart.

.

He had kept his distance for so long, fearing the warnings, fearing his own weakness. Now, he held the most delicate heart he'd ever met in the rough palms of bloody hands wondering why he'd allowed her to suffer his rejection for so long. He could never have imagined that there would ever be a time where anyone could say things like she had said to _him_ , _feel_ things that she had felt for _him_. After all the games and the drama, to hold him so close and whisper the confessions of such a pure and unshakable conviction to him was devastating.

.

He would never forgive himself for taking so long to surrender.

.

He was crushed beneath the weight of his guilt, obliterated by the memories of walking away from her love, hiding behind his own petty insecurities. He wanted to beg forgiveness for his wrongs, only to realise that she would deny that he'd ever infracted. Her unshakable faith in him made his heart ache so badly that he wanted to pry it from his own chest even if it was all he'd ever wanted.

.

"How?" He forced the statement from behind bared teeth, his voice airy and weak with the breath he used to utter his words. "How can you stand here and say things like that… to me?"

.

There wasn't an ounce of hesitation in her reply to him. "Because I love you," she whispered against his head. "More than a lifetime of words could ever say… And even if I know that this moment isn't going to last forever, a part of me wishes it really could. I want to hold you, learn you, and I wish I had more time to do it… I wish I had time to tell you all the secrets I kept from everyone else. I'll keep this memory next to the first in my heart to help me stay strong in the days to come. If there ever comes a time I'm not by your side, I want you to promise me you'll keep a smile in yours."

.

"There's no use talkin' about it like that," he almost snarled. "That day's not coming…"

.

She closed her eyes, forcing her tears from her cheeks to meet her grateful smile. Always the optimist. "Promise me anyway…"

.

"I promise…"

.

She giggled softly and pulled away from his head, and just as she'd thought, his eyes were red and cheeks stained with the presence of his tears. "I'm sorry, Prince," she whispered sweetly before rolling her thumb over his cheek. "I didn't mean to sneak attack you like that…"

.

"It's fine," he admitted hoarsely while diverting his exhausted gaze. "If nothing else, I'm glad it was me…" He looked back at her, his best attempt at a smile curling his lips in the slightest of ways. "I really am…"

.

"I know what will make you feel better," she crooned affectionately. She reached into the pocket of her cloak to withdraw a small crystal bottle.

.

His smile broadened as he caught the scent of her sakura oil on the cool breeze. "You really are a nightmare," he teased through a chest swelling with affection. A nightmare with an insatiable appetite for his affections.

.

Neirah smiled and reached out to take his hand in hers. "Finally, something my brother and you can agree on."

.

He slowly shifted his gaze back to her as she captured his hand and led him into the deeper water. Even as she smiled and danced beneath his fingertips, he couldn't help feeling the slightest foreboding for the moment. Like maybe what they were experiencing really was the calm before the storm.

.

He was hip deep in water when she finally joined both of their hands beneath the crystalline surface, pressing her naked body against his. She smiled, and gently kissed his chin, whispering sweet nothings. They kissed, he held her, hoisted her from the water in his arms and listened to her sing happily to the starry sky above them in an enchanting voice -

.

But something wasn't right.

.

He couldn't help but feel like…

.

they weren't alone.

.

* * *

.

"Argh! This doesn't make any sense!" Lucy wailed, crinkling up the map that she'd been using to chart their course. The map was covered in far too many 'x's to even remain legible. "We've been out here for days! Why can't we find them?! I mean, come on! It's not like those guys are hard to miss!"

.

"My nose must be broken or something," Natsu sneered bitterly. He glared bitterly into dawn's morning light as it cut through the trees. "I swear I can smell 'em right up until this creepy forest and then it just drops off halfway through." He groaned impatiently. "It must be that damn village that Zade melted off the face of the earth… It's got me sniffin' in circles…"

.

"It _was_ pretty bad…" Happy agreed sadly.

.

"But even without your nose, we've circled Lysar in a ten-mile radius over the past few days! They have to be here somewhere!" Lucy demanded frantically. She scoured the land around them like luck might drop their targets into their lap.

.

"I dunno, Lu… After seeing what Zade did to Lysar, it wouldn't surprise me if they put as much distance between them and Ghoul Knight as possible," Levy reasoned.

.

"But there's nothing out there…" Happy whined. "Just ocean, mountains and trees."

.

"Happy's right," Lucy added. "They can't just live off the land for an entire month. They need to have somewhere to get supplies of some sort for camp. Lysar was perfectly situated for that if they really had been camping out in this forest."

.

"I don't know guys, Gajeel was pretty resourceful when we were with the council. Not to mention Shads pretty much grew up living off the land."

.

"Yea but I just can't see a guy like Laxus scrapin' by with nothin'…" Natsu growled. "Errr CRAP! It's like they're right here too! They have to be in here somewhere!"

.

Lucy flinched and whirled to face him as he stormed the brush for the umpteenth time. "Natsu! Slow down!"

.

"Gajeel! Laxus! Shadow! Come out before I gotta smoke you out!"

.

Lucy huffed an exasperated sigh.

.

"There he goes…" Happy mewled grimly.

.

"Hold on guys…" Levy encouraged upon taking a better look at the forest border. "I'm getting a really strange feeling coming from that mountain."

.

"Mountain?" Lucy cooed. "Way back there?"

.

"We didn't check over there." Happy announced.

.

"Well yeah," Lucy started. "That's because living on top of a mountain would be pretty much impossible. There's absolutely nothing there. No food, water."

.

Levy's brow furrowed in concentration. "I get that, but… I'm getting a really strange feeling. There's an incredibly ancient magic at work and it seems to be coming from that direction."

.

"Ancient magic?"

.

Levy started to walk through the woods after Natsu. "Gajeel and I ran into something similar while we were on the council. It was an enchantment, but something so old that I didn't recognise its script. After I thought about it for a while, I brought out the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai and learned that the reason I didn't recognise it was because it was written in ancient Austalian."

.

"The language of demons," Lucy muttered thoughtfully.

.

Levy gave her a stern nod. "Yeah and this feels like something pretty similar. It can't be Neirah's because, so far as I know, neither her or I are fluent enough in Alra'Bekthian to script an entire enchantment out of it. Besides, these enchantments seem like they were laid a long time ago."

.

"Well, maybe we should avoid it then," Lucy cautioned. "We do have a war encroaching on our territory. If it's something that powerful, maybe we don't want to go near it."

.

"That's the thing though," Levy assured her with a soft smile. "The enchantment Gajeel and I found wasn't malicious, it was an open concealment spell. The parameters of the ring must have expired a long time ago and just left an empty circle."

.

"Concealment…" Lucy's expression grew vacant before she grabbed her friend by the shoulders and shook her. "That's perfect Levy!" She congratulated, turning to point to where Natsu had taken off through the woods. "Keep goin' Natsu! Follow that nose!"

.

* * *

.

"And here we are again…" Freed murmured gently. He drew to a halt, staring at the unrecognisable ruins of Lysar's port.

.

"It looks just like a ghost town," Evergreen whimpered sadly. "I think there's less of it here everytime we pass."

.

"Well, I can tell ya one thing," Bickslow assured them grimly. "Ain't a soul left around, for one reason or another…"

.

"Guys, I'm really worried," Evergreen fussed nervously. "I know Neirah is powerful, but this is-"

.

"Despicable, isn't it?"

.

Freed whirled around to face where Porlyusica had joined them, hovering at their backs as she looked over the remnants of the city. "Miss Porlyusica, what on earth are you doing here?!"

.

"I've come to monitor the situation," she assured them. "But I see I've come far too late to do any good." The old woman passed the young wizards and knelt by the rubble, reaching her hand into the lifeless mass.

.

"U-uhm, ma'am?!" Freed panicked nervously. "Should you really be touching that?"

.

"Relax," she assured them sternly. She quietly raked her fingers through the mulch at her feet. "The magic that turned this city into fertiliser has long since vanished. The land is no longer toxic." She stood and looked out over the ruins wisely, releasing the dust to the slight breeze. "The most terrible of tragedies caused by this repulsive magic will now begin," she whispered over the maritime wind. "Soon, vegetation, trees, flowers, forests, they will start to grow from the remains of this once humble town."

.

Evergreen held her fingers to her lips in disgust. "Out of all those people he murdered…"

.

"One day, people will travel these lands and marvel at the beauty, never knowing what despicable tyrant had their hands in creating it." Porlyusica bowed her head in silent mourning. "Zade must be stopped."

.

"That is why we're here," Freed assured her swiftly as he took a step ahead of his company. "If Laxus and the others were here, there's a chance that they're not far."

.

"There's a chance they're already flowers."

.

"Bickslow!" Evergreen screeched.

.

"Not to worry, child," Porlyusica assured the frightened girl certainly. "I can assure you Laxus isn't among the mire."

.

"How can you be sure…?" Freed gently pried, more than grateful for a little assurance in such a bleak time.

.

"It is simple," Porlyusica chided. "He has his grandfather's blood. He's simply too stubborn to die."

.

Freed smiled slightly with her reassurance, vague, but comforting. "I suppose more than one plague has tried to see him from this world and he is still standing."

.

"That's our Laxus," Bickslow crooned impishly.

.

"However," Porlyusica warned. "Something does worry me now that I am here. I sense a great amount of magic coming from the forest nearby. It radiates an ancient power, unlike anything I have experienced." She narrowed her gaze at the mountains on the horizon. "What concerns me is that the towns that have been destroyed are the ones bordering this landmark."

.

"The mountain?"

.

Evergreen gasped as Bickslow stepped forward to speak, shaking a determined fist. "Do you think that's where Zade's hiding?!"

.

"I cannot say," she murmured grimly. "But something certainly isn't right. In a perfect world, I would encourage you three to go and investigate…" She trailed off, silencing the Thunder Legion expectantly. "IF YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE BACK IN MAGNOLIA WITH MASTER MAKAROV PREPARING FOR A WAR!"

.

Freed flinched and scurried away with his companions on his heels. "Apologies! Please give our regards to the master!"

.

Porlyusica watched them retreat, confidence in their party of three as they charged the unknown. "Foolish children," she murmured upon taking her first step after them. "You really have raised a reckless guild, Makarov."

.

* * *

.

Neirah groaned and stretched out her arms with dawn's morning light spilling through the main hall of their guild. She had slept so soundly, she really didn't think that thunder could wake her even if it had returned. She sat up with a gentle hum before sighing and slowly opening her eyes.

.

Alarm stole her newfound peace as she woke surrounded by the faces of her remaining guide mates like they intended on interrogating her. Her heart raced as she looked them each in the eye. "W-what's wrong?" She immediately demanded. "Is it Zade?"

.

Damion slowly shook his head. "It's the zappy bro."

.

Neirah's heart iced over when she admitted that the only one not standing in front of her was Laxus. "Laxus?" She whimpered. "Wh-where-?"

.

"None of us saw him leave," Pantherlily assured her grimly. "He must have left sometime this morning while everyone was still asleep."

.

"You two were fighting really badly last night so we did not know if maybe he got angry and just left," Arihana added.

.

Neirah's head instantly emptied of anything but the rapping of her heart against her chest. She didn't want to tell the guild that they hadn't been fighting at all, but what she couldn't understand is why he'd leave without saying a thing to her of all people. The very thought made her stomach churn.

.

She scrambled out of her bed. Her head reeling in panic. "Well if he just left, there's a chance we can still-"

.

"No dice…" Gajeel rumbled quietly, sceptical of Neirah's involvement. "If he's got a scent at all, it ain't his own."

.

Neirah stared at the floor, her heart shattered into pieces. She didn't focus too intently on the fact that Gajeel had just insinuated that there may have been a chance Laxus smelled like her. Certainly, Laxus wouldn't run from a little sentimentality. Sure, she may have told him some things that would be hard to accept, but…

.

Before she said another word, she gathered her boots and gloves, seeing herself dressed for the day. She couldn't help but feel like something terrible had happened. It wasn't like Laxus to be so secretive, in fact, it wasn't like Laxus to get up before noon. Whatever had gotten him out of bed was a serious concern, a threat even.

.

"Where are you going?" Her Edolas counterpart crooned sadly.

.

"After him of course!" She demanded, throwing the guild's front door wide open. If nothing else, she knew the scent that she needed to track in order to find him.

.

Sakura.

.

* * *

.

Neirah ground to a halt, meeting with her fellow dragons in the clearing beneath the mountain upon her return. To her dismay, Laxus still wasn't among them. "Anything?" She rushed desperately past trembling lips. Her heart ached as gazes dropped and heads shook in defeat. She threw her hands up into her hair, ripping at her roots in silent agony. If Laxus had planned on leaving, for any reason, surely he would have told her. He would have.

.

She knew it…

.

"Then we'll branch off and search a broader range!" She demanded passionately. She hated that she was willing to split them up after a month of demanding they remained together. Safety in numbers had gone out the window when she woke in a guild void of the presence that comforted her the most.

.

"Further?" Damion chimed. "We go much further, we're gonna be pushin' city limits."

.

Neirah dropped her hands and glared at him over her shoulder with passionate amber eyes. "So be it."

.

Arihana recoiled timidly. "But Empress, Zade has destroyed all the towns bordering this forest. It has made the council suspicious. If we wander from the focal that has been framed-"

.

"Arihana, I need you to understand something very important," Neirah pleaded. "Laxus has a power that we can't hope to defeat Zade without! If he's been hurt, our chances of defeating Zade have just halved or worse."

.

Damion scoffed defiantly. "We have infinity on our side, we don't need his kinda h-"

.

"I do!" Neirah roared defensively, silencing their entire party. "I can't do this alone! He is half the reason we made it this far." She lowered her voice, realising that her heart was getting the best of her head. She hadn't meant to make it sound like no one else mattered, that no one else contributed. but she wasn't thinking very rationally anymore. Her heart was racing to see them all grimly silent before her. None of them wanted to say the obvious that someone like Laxus wouldn't have thought twice about. Even she knew she was acting ridiculously. All she wanted in that moment was for him to tell her that.

.

"Gajeel, Lily… come with me," she whispered decisively. "The rest of you, search the area surrounding the forest as thoroughly as you can while also remaining out of military and council eyes. We need to find him… but I don't want you putting yourself in harm's way to do so."

.

"Can do…" Damion complied.

.

"It will be done, Empress."

.

Neirah stared blankly at the ground her heartbeat deafening as it rang in her ears. The thought of harm befalling Laxus was terrifying on every level of consideration. As one of Infinity Dragon's more powerful forces, their resistance to Ghoul Knight would be greatly reduced. Against Zade, she would be half as strong without their force in unison.

.

And her heart would be shattered.

.

* * *

.

 _Neirah ground her teeth as discretely as possible as Zade leant into her, but she was moments from being granted the information which she sought. She held her breath as she filtered his ramblings, seeking clues to her objective while simultaneously avoiding the scent of liquor on his breath. Her diverted gaze widened, her expression paling with the flash cutting through the elegant wall length windows of the ballroom. 'No,' she thought in panic. 'They wouldn't have.'_

 _._

 _Her startled squeak may have sounded a bit more pathetic than she wanted it to as he dipped her in their dance, but when her alarmed thoughts were interrupted by Zade's hand on her face, she was certainly drawn back into reality._

 _._

 _"_ _I had nothing to do with Karua's schemes," he drawled quietly against her. His voice was so smooth, his intent may have almost been mistaken for affection._

 _._

 _"_ _W-wait what?" She stammered out uncertainly, having tuned out the majority of his ramblings to replace his image with another._

 _._

 _"_ _I would never put such a beautiful little dove through such torment."_

 _._

 _She wanted to haul back and strike him for even considering an advance that would see their lips connected, but to her relief, she didn't need to exhaust so much restraint. Instead of completing his advance, he quickly curled around the side of her to finish his warning._

 _._

 _"_ _Unless of course, she was conspiring against me."_

 _._

 _Her brow furrowed as she jerked from him to meet his cynical gaze. After a long moment of contemplation, she expelled an exasperated grunt of defiance in order to shove him out of her arms and away from their dance. She winced at the crack of thunder echoing in the bustling ballroom filled with other party guests, the sound piercing as a suspicious hush fell over the floor. "Now don't be hasty," Zade purred smoothly as he took her back into his embrace by her polished fingertips. "If this should be the end of you, there is no reason that we can't have one last dance."_

 _._

 _Her venomous hiss was filled with malice as her pupils narrowed ominously to reptilian slits. "I'm about to give you a good one…"_

 _._

 _She knew that the plot had thickened the moment the rain of crystal filled the hall and not a single party guest screamed in alarm with the shattering of the glass walls around them. Moments later, she had swung around to catch the sight of a furious lightning dragon making his entrance and she boiled over with frustration; mainly with Frost and Wavebreak for spilling her motives. But she was no more lenient with her impatient wrath as she directed her heated glare Laxus' way. She was moments from blasting him for his interference with her plans, but there was a look in his eyes that she'd never seen before as he rose to his feet and glared at the man next to her, a look chilling enough to keep her from moving at all._

 _._

 _"_ _Get. your greasy. fucking paws. off. of my. woman," he snarled viciously. The sparks on his strained flesh were bright enough to dim the once well-lit room around them._

 _._

 _Neirah's breath caught, her brow furrowed hesitantly with the expulsion of his fury and words that struck her core. At first, she wanted to bite back at him defiantly with the reasoning that there was no such link of causality between them and his claim. Any other day, she might have._

 _._

 _"_ _A Dreyar on my doorstep," Zade murmured whimsically with humour in his nonchalant station. "Well as I live and breathe."_

 _._

 _"_ _Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it won't for much longer," Laxus assured him vehemently._

 _._

 _Neirah drove her heel into the hem of her dress decisively, a smoky dagger materialising in her palm before she split the fibres of her gown to tear it off at the knee. She dropped her fingertips to the floor and swung her leg over her head, striking the man next to her in the jaw before springing back towards her ally. "I was moments from getting what I wanted out of him," she snarled impatiently upon straightening. She slid the dagger against her collar to tear the snug fabric from around her throat before she shifted her peripheral gaze to where Laxus glowered at Zade vengefully, her dagger fading back into the shadows around them._

 _._

 _"_ _You and I are gonna have words," Laxus rumbled darkly. He didn't once break their host's unconcerned gaze as Zade was joined by his rodent companion. He also didn't once look at her as he thrust his hand down to his side, palm open for her to take._

 _._

 _Neirah didn't waver as she pressed her back against his and slid her fingertips over those offered. "If those words aren't 'sorry for being such an inconveniencing jerk', I don't wanna hear it."_

 _._

 _"They're not," he rumbled curtly while lingering in the moment their presence's intertwined. His grip on her hand tightened as black and gold sparks commingled on their forearms. "But you gotta hear them..."_

 _._

* * *

.

"Where to, boss?"

.

Neirah shuddered out of her thoughts with a gentle breath, her gaze falling on her team waiting for their orders. In observing them, she raised her gaze over the mountains they stood before. 'He wouldn't have honestly gone after Zade on his own… would he?'

.

"We're going over the mountain," Neirah demanded in authority while taking her first step towards them.

.

"The mountain?" Lily murmured hesitantly. "What would send him over that?"

.

"Ghoul Knight's headquarters rest on a rocky plane just on the other side."

.

Gajeel's gaze narrowed in on his master suspiciously. "Even if Wavebreak didn't tell us that Zade probably doesn't even hang out there anymore, what makes you think Laxus would be stupid enough to try it on his own? I know I'm hard on him but even I'd give him more credit than that."

.

"That's right," Lily agreed. "Ghoul Knight's reach is larger than any I've ever seen, certainly in Fiore's kingdom. Even against a wizard of Laxus' reputation, their sheer numbers would surely overwhelm him."

.

Neirah's expression faltered as she stared at the rock beneath her feet. "He's just as homesick as the rest of us," she whispered solemnly. She really hoped that they didn't challenge that a statement so genuine could come from their generally brooding lightning dragon. "If there was a way he could take away the pain from everyone else, he would shoulder this burden alone in a heartbeat."

.

Gajeel's gaze narrowed suspiciously. "The only one burdened by it is you," he noted sternly. "So, with the way you guys fight, you'll have to excuse us for not leapin' to that one on our own."

.

"But the mountain…" Lily prompted. "It will take at least a day to scale to the other side if not longer."

.

Gajeel dropped his palm gently on top of Lily's head before standing and straightening his headband, following loyally after his little sister. "Then we'd better start walkin'."

.

Pantherlily watched Neirah and Gajeel begin their climb but he was hesitant as he looked back to where the other half of their guild had started through the woods. "Master," Lily interrupted more fervently. He waited until she turned to face him before he continued. "I don't think the others realise that we'll be going so far out of our way," he reasoned. "If I could, I'd like to fly ahead and inform each of them before we become too far separated and lose track of each other."

.

Neirah sighed softly, grateful that at least somebody in their party retained their wits through the night. "Thank you, Lily," she agreed. She turned and offered the Exceed an appreciative smile. "We'll go on ahead and you can fly back to meet us when you're done."

.

He gave a swift nod and took flight out into the forest after the other half of their guild.

.

"Oh goodie," Gajeel sneered ruefully. He climbed the rocky face along his sister's side. "Now we got a whole day ahead of us to talk about nothin' but what's goin' on between you and Spar-" Gajeel choked on his words as an iron dragon's club crashed into his jaw and started to topple him down the rocky face in which he'd just begun traversing. He rubbed at his jaw with a dismal growl as he watched his little sister quietly continue to climb. "You ain't helpin' yer case, you know!"

.

"Bite me."

.

* * *

.

"I'm tellin' you guys, it stops right here!" Natsu demanded frantically. He glowered up at the mountain towering above them. "I can smell em' so strong it's like their standin' right next to us but this is where it just ends."

.

"That's what I thought…" Levy knelt to the ground and examined the enchantment with keen eyes. "Well, this is definitely an enchantment border. It's almost identical to the one that Gajeel and I saw out in the middle of nowhere between here and Crocus."

.

"Can you tell who set it?" Lucy questioned, kneeling by Levy's side. "Knowing if it's good guys or bad guys right about now would be ideal."

.

"I don't have to think hard on that one," Levy assured her. "This enchantment was set decades ago, no joke. It's super powerful."

.

"It's not dangerous though, is it?" Happy crooned nervously.

.

Levy shook her head and looked up at him with a reassuring smile. "Not even a little bit, but for all we know, this mountain might not even exist." Her eyes glowed with her marvelling as she traced her fingers over the ancient script. "They could be hiding an entire city behind a spell like this."

.

"No way!" Natsu gaped. "Someone could actually hide somethin' under an entire freaking mountain."

.

Levy whipped out her wind reader glasses and the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai, drawing forth her notes on ancient Alra'Bekthian. "It's amazing what simple concealment enchantments are capable of. They're usually pretty simple bases so you can really focus on putting all your power into making it super strong. This enchantment could have taken weeks to script. Just give me a minute to see what it's protecting and we'll get a better idea as to whether we want to disturb it or not."

.

"You got it," Natsu agreed. "But I'm almost sure this is where Shads and the others are hiding! Gajeel's stink is all over the place. I feel like I could just reach out right here and punch 'im!"

.

Lucy shrieked as Natsu struck out and the hollow echoes of Gajeel's grunts of pain echoed in the mountains. Their whole party was forced to still.

.

"Was that Gajeel?" Levy rushed out hopefully.

.

Lucy watched Natsu start grabbing at the empty air in front of him. "Only one way to find out!" Lucy encouraged. "Let's crack this thing!"

.

* * *

.

Pantherlily kept alert as he flew through the golden forest at sundown. "What a disappointment," he thought grimly. "I really hadn't expected them to move so quickly. Not to mention, if those three don't want to be seen, they're certainly not. Now I'm hours behind Shadow and Gaje-" Lily froze mid-flight and glared through the trees at the clearing beneath the mountain where their guild was located, watching in terror as a small fire crackled at its base. "What?! Who could possibly-?!"

.

"Anythin' yet, Levy?"

.

Pantherlily's eyes widened in alarm. "Natsu?!"

.

"No, sorry guys, this is really tough stuff…" Levy sighed in exhaustion, slipping off her glasses. "The only words I can kind of make out are all kind of mushy. It seems like this spot was an important location for something or somebody. Like a secret retreat."

.

Natsu wrinkled his nose in disapproval. "The heck? That can't be right. What would Shads want with a place like that?" He got down on his hands and knees next to her as she pointed out the characters. "Did you try readin' it backwards?"

.

"Forwards is hard enough," Levy whined. "See? This here means 'eternal'. And over here, this part means 'the one I love'." She slid her finger one more time. "And this is-"

.

"Levy?"

.

Levy whirled in her seat to face where a frantic Exceed joined their company. "Lily!"

.

"What on earth are you four doing here?!" He didn't mean to sound like he was scolding them, but there was too much happening with Infinity Dragon's guild to concern himself with the details.

.

"Isn't it obvious?" She cooed sweetly. "We're here to help you guys!" Levy's once friendly demeanour shifted sadly as she watched Pantherlily's expression drop. "W-wait, what's wrong…? Where are Gajeel and the others?"

.

"Everyone has split up for the first time in a month," he murmured grimly. "This morning, Laxus went missing."

.

"Missing?!" Lucy demanded. "How the heck does someone lose a Laxus?!"

.

"We think he snuck out in the night and hasn't returned since. Damion, Arihana and Neirah went into town while Shadow and Gajeel started over the mountain."

.

"But the towns bordering this forest have all been destroyed," Lucy whined.

.

"Wait, the fake mountain?" Natsu interrupted daftly.

.

Levy blinked. "Um, there are two Shadows?"

.

"It's a long story…" Lucy added humbly. She could recall the last time she and Natsu had run into the small Edolas counterpart of their friend. "But that's great! Now that you're here, Lily, maybe you can fill us in on what this enchantment is all about."

.

"It's our guild hall," he assured them certainly. He landed before them to show the Infinity Dragon mark on his back before he turned and folded his paws over his chest to elaborate. "The guild is actually built right into the mountain itself. Those who bear the mark of the infinite dragon can enter."

.

"Owh! Way cool!" Levy mused in excitement. "I've always wanted to learn conditional enchantment spells!"

.

"That's one way to keep annoying brothers and sisters out of your fort," Lucy crooned. "I could use that kind of magic on my bedroom."

.

"I'm sure," Lily rushed out eagerly. "But now, I must catch up with Shadow and Gajeel. They're venturing into dangerous territory."

.

"What do you mean?" Lucy whimpered softly.

.

"Shadow thinks that there is a chance that Laxus may have crossed the mountain on his way to Ghoul Knight's headquarters. If that's the case, there is a chance that Zade and his army have already met him."

.

"What?!" Levy gasped. "Laxus wouldn't seriously move so rashly, would he?"

.

Lily slowly shook his head. "I can't see it, but Shadow has been acting strangely lately. Last night, she and Laxus had a pretty bad fight. We thought he may have left as a result. She doesn't seem convinced."

.

"Well that's not news," Lucy informed. "She and Laxus have been fighting since the day they met."

.

"Yes, but recently they had been getting along quite well," Lily admitted. "He has been her second in command in the guild. In her absence, we were to answer to him."

.

"That don't sound right," Natsu challenged. "It's hard to see Laxus as the leader type."

.

"To be fair, we haven't had to be without Shadow yet to find out."

.

"Well, if Shads and Gajeel are wandering into Zade's territory, we're comin' with ya," Natsu informed. "We've been hearin' all sorts of shit about this guy that's got me all fired up and if I see 'im, I'm gonna pummel him into the dirt…"

.

"It's true," Lucy ascertained sternly. "Zade has framed Infinity Dragon for everything, the losses of all the villages, the attacks on Fiore's army. It tied Fairy Tail's hands and stopped us from coming sooner because Zade's political power is through the roof. But now that we've seen what he's capable of, we want to help stop him!"

.

"And Master Makarov allowed this…?" Lily pried.

.

Lucy flinched and quieted sheepishly. "Heeee, uhm, he doesn't know we're here…"

.

"I see…" Lily muttered in silent contemplation. "Well, I can't guarantee that Shadow will be happy about this, but I know she's really worried about Laxus. Any help we can get, I'm sure she'll appreciate."

.

"Alright then! Saddle up!" Levy crooned. "Let's go find our missing lightning dragon!"

.

Lily nodded sternly with a smile. "Right…"

.

* * *

.

It was killing Gajeel to travel so silently behind his edgy little sister, especially after the sun had finally set. Every time he brought up Laxus' name, he got a different reaction but he wasn't ready to believe that any of them were the truth. "You wanna at least tell me what you and lightning breath were fightin' about last night?"

.

Neirah was too far ahead of him to worry that he might see her blushing. "The fact that he doesn't care about anyone but himself," she quipped back without hesitation. "So pretty much the same thing we always fight about."

.

"Yeah, you said that earlier too. But you also said that he wanted to end this and spare the rest of us the headache. Those two things kinda contradict each other."

.

"How am I supposed to know what goes on in his head?"

.

"Yer the only one who claims to!" Gajeel demanded impatiently. "Look, kid, we've been together for years. If you think yer gettin' one by me, you ain't!"

.

Neirah sighed and stopped rushing ahead, her heartbroken expression turning to face him. "Screwball, please, I am not in the mood for this right now…" She lowered her tone, finding it hard to force the words past her lips. "I know that you and Laxus don't really get along. I would never do anything to jeopar-"

.

"Do you love 'im?"

.

Neirah's expression was uncharacteristically exhausted as she looked back at him and denied the very thought. "I love you, Big Brother…"

.

It was so strange for her to offer such a sincere response void of outlandish screeching and flailing. Gajeel was moments from assuring her that she could love more than one person, even if he didn't exactly approve but that was before he caught the glittering sight of lights flickering in the distance. His gaze narrowed on the dark silhouette and then widened in disbelief. "No fucking way," he breathed out nervously. "Is that-?"

.

Neirah turned her lifeless expression over her shoulder to face where she knew Ghoul Knight's headquarters stood. "Zade's headquarters," she explained. "I bet you can hardly recognise it now, but that was where you found me. Years ago, the land you see now used to be vibrant and beautiful beneath the maritime rain. It was once the city of Austalia, where I was born, where my mother grew up. The same year that Karua faked his death and abandoned the city, Zade was discharged from the Fiore military for being too forward in his approaches, making gruesome examples of enemies to the kingdom."

.

"It was the same year that Zade's father fell mysteriously ill within Austalia's walls. Zade returned to see him from this world and was encouraged by his father's last breath to take his place as one of the Austalian Elitists aside Karua and Jose. That made Zade the youngest of them all." Her gaze narrowed. "And the most ambitious."

.

"Yer tellin' me that's where I tried to get you help when you were a kid?"

.

"One and the same," she murmured grimly. "When Zade was discharged from his station as a general, he immediately took an interest in magic. He spent the next few years of his life devoting his time to learning it. In doing so, he started to build a guild in the city he'd grown up in. Soon, the guild became legendary and grew to assimilate the town beneath. Zade used condensed waves of his organic deterioration magic to clear the land around Austalia and where there used to be bright forests, it's now nothing but rocky mulch. He kept it bare so they could continue expanding. Soon, there will be nothing left of the town my mother grew up in."

.

"Yeah, well from what I hear about those creeps, that ain't a bad thing," Gajeel snarled. "Stealin' kids and turnin' em' into toys for their sick games. Every time I think about it I wanna drag Karua outta his grave just to bury 'im there all over again."

.

She bowed her head solemnly. "As terrible as it seems, I still miss the sight of the forests and flowers that used to grow here…" She looked out over the mountain in bleak observance. "Ryverika used to take me down into the forests often to draw and enjoy the soft air. Sometimes he'd let me go into the neighbouring towns, but never Austalia. We could always watch over it from here… he… could always watch over it from here…"

.

Gajeel looked back at her curiously. "Why'd he care so much about a town tryin' to steal his powers? From what I hear, he hated 'em about as much as I do."

.

Neirah gave her brother a fleeting smile. "There were some things he loved about it…"

.

The two stilled when a flash of lightning illuminated the mountainside between Ghoul Knight's fortress and where they stood. "Lightning?" Gajeel gasped out quickly.

.

Neirah's whisper was breathless as the silent area around them filled with the earth-shaking rumble of thunder. "Laxus…"


	11. For a Promise

_**For a Promise**_

* * *

.

.

Neirah's ankles burned as she stormed the mountainside with Gajeel close to her heels. She had never been so relieved and terrified in one breath. If Laxus had left sometime shortly after he and she had returned from the springs on the mountaintop, he would be nearing the end of the mountain. That also meant that Zade could become a problem at any minute.

.

"If he's fightin', that means he's still alive," Gajeel assured her. "S'weird that we only saw that one blast though. I know the guys tough as nails, but you don't seriously think he could trash whatever's down there in one attack, do you?"

.

"No…" Neirah murmured bleakly. "I don't care what's on the other side of this mountain, he couldn't have taken it down with one attack." Her heartbeat thundered with the race of her soles driving into the earth to propel her forwards. "That's what worries me… It didn't look like a particularly strong attack."

.

Gajeel whirled his attention to the side to face his baby sister's realisation.

.

"He was trying to get our attention," she cautioned certainly. "It's a strong possibility that he's hurt."

.

Gajeel turned to face where they were coming over the rise of the mountain, his teeth ground hesitantly. "Just talkin' like Laxus, of all people, could need our help. It don't sound right…"

.

"Laxus is powerful, but not invincible," Neirah warned him. "He's human and falls like the rest of you."

.

"You won't catch me sayin' this often, so open yer ears!" Gajeel warned. He reached the edge of the mountainside behind her and skidded to a halt to consider their incline before he turned to look at Neirah seriously. "I'm just as worried about the arrogant son-of-a-bitch as you, but something doesn't feel right about this."

.

"I know," Neirah admitted bleakly while peering over the ledge. "Stay close… I don't want us falling into the same trap he did."

.

Gajeel gave her a stern, supportive nod.

.

Neirah's heart skipped a beat when another bout of static expulsion lit up the ground at her feet. "There," she nearly hissed. "I can see him."

.

Gajeel was quick in successfully locating him upon Neirah's warning. "He's on 'is own two feet. That's a damn good sign," he admitted in relief. He threw his hands up against his face. "OI! LAXUS! Get yer ass over 'ere so I can beat it for scarin' Shads stupid!"

.

Neirah narrowed her gaze in dismay when there came no response from the man standing solitarily in the clearing beneath the mountain. His body was tight. Even from a distance, she could see the tension wracking his shoulders beneath the ink he sported. 'Something's not right…' Neirah seeped into the shadows stretching into the night along the mountainside, skirting along the rocky face unhindered by its abrasive surface.

.

"Yo Shads, wait the hell up!" So much for sticking close to avoid traps.

.

She couldn't. Her heart was so filled with conflicting emotions that she couldn't wait. She needed to see him; needed to be reassured that he was ok. She didn't pay much mind to her brother's unimpressed curses shaking the rocky face behind her as he slammed his sword arm into the cliffs in order to slow the pace in which he declined after her.

.

Neirah hit the dusty ground at the base of the mountain and crawled up from the shadows, eyes wide and scanning the area nearby. She couldn't sense a soul and the only person she could smell was Laxus. 'Why hasn't he noticed us yet?'

.

Her gaze narrowed towards the man she charged. He still had his back to their ruckus, still gave off additional bursts of static; humming with excess magical power. His presence became malevolently eerie as the night darkened the overcast skies. It was so much so that she slowed her pace as she drew near, approaching him with reluctant footsteps.

.

"Laxus…?" She called to him softly, her guard remaining high even as she approached her ally. Her lover. Now that she had grown closer, she was certain the tension raising veins beneath his skin was almost unbearable, so fierce that it had a sheen of perspiration coating his body. But his breaths remained normal and steady. She scanned the area again, almost close enough that she could reach out to him. 'What are you fighting…?'

.

"What the hell is wrong with him?" Gajeel growled upon bringing up the rear. "Why's he ignoring-?"

.

Neirah's heart shattered, her stomach lurching in panic as Laxus' lifeless luminescent gaze glanced mechanically over his shoulder. It was the only warning she'd had before her brother's call cut her thoughts.

.

"Shadow! Get away-!"

.

Her words barely left her lips before she lost the ability to give them. "No…"

.

"SHADS!"

.

Neirah's screech was blood-curdling as she was engulphed in a pillar of crimson electricity that reached from the land to the sky. It was a force unlike anything she'd ever suffered before and least of all from him. When the agonising pain finally started to subside, she could vaguely hear her brother crying out for her moments before he was narrowly avoiding a relentless strike of his own. Her body trembled as she slowly raised the peek of a single eye to where the man before her remained unaffected by his display; no more hesitant than triumphant.

.

A calm vacancy.

.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" Gajeel roared defensively. For his little sister to have screeched like she had with exposure to an element she had a partial resistance to, he'd be damned if he was going to let Laxus hit him next.

.

"That's a very good question…"

.

Neirah's gaze widened, pupils narrowing in horror with the sound to meet her ears. "N-no…" She whimpered weakly, trying her hardest to crawl back to her feet and leap on alert. "I didn't sense him… at all…" Her desperately fatigued gaze caught the sight of a man materialising beside Laxus and she lost her breath. "Zade…"

.

"A thought projection?!" Gajeel snarled. "You coward!"

.

"First, I am a liar, and now a coward? It seems you people have a very narrow misconception of me." Zade folded his arms neatly behind his back. "You see, I regret to inform that this is all I have left after your friend here destroyed my body."

.

Neirah's breathing hitched. "Laxus… So he did defeat Zade…"

.

"Defeat is such a strong word, Little Dove," Zade assured her upon taking Laxus' side. "You see, I was never really there to begin with. Not the real me, that is. No. My actuality is being fused with Reku's essence as we speak."

.

"The dragon?!" Gajeel bellowed.

.

"Yes," Zade crooned triumphantly. "See, our existence depends on one another. Whereas my consciousness can exist productively outside my body, his cannot. My magic is what gives him physical form."

.

Neirah whined softly as she climbed to her feet. "The same way you can make less aware rodents take the form of greater beasts."

.

Zade turned his attention to the rat on his shoulder and gently scratched the underside of its chin. "I don't appreciate the insult to such a fine companion. There truly is no greater beast." He smiled back at them casually. "Except maybe this one," he outwardly mused before redirecting their attention to Laxus. "See, generally humans are rather difficult for me to manipulate, unlike my dear uncle Karua. They are self-aware, intelligent. You can teach a rat to come when called with the promise of treats, but a human won't come unless they want to; unless you force them to."

.

Neirah's body started to tremble as she watched crimson scales emerge on the bare arms of her second, his gaze still empty and void of consciousness. She had only seen him enter such a state once. A day that she regretted ever forcing him to live through.

.

"I will say that, since the destruction of my body, I have learned a fascinating amount about this fellow here. It's amazing the kind of secrets humans will keep from one another. Bottling desires, keeping them from surfacing around those they care about. A lot of pent aggression plagues this particular vessel. All I did was simply put a leash on it."

.

"Not again," Neirah whispered vaguely through her tears. "I promised…"

.

Zade's gaze darkened venomously as he glared back at the broken woman. "I told you before that I had no interest in playing games with you like Karua and Jose, but one thing I cannot tolerate is being outdone. I thought for sure this man would be fertiliser beneath my feet by the time the sun rose the day after our battle, but he wasn't. That is the first time in a very long one that I was outclassed, and I'll admit that I. didn't. like it."

.

His tone accelerated with loathing. "A part of my consciousness has remained dormant inside him for the last month, listening, learning. I couldn't move on you in your sleep due to that wretched enchantment your mother laid decades ago, but mark my words I will have my revenge. I am the king of organic manipulation."

.

"I can save him," Neirah whimpered softly. "If you poison him again, I'll purify it! Just like the first time!" Her broken spirit glared back at him through trembling sapphire eyes. "Disease is no match for the infinite."

.

"How meek," Zade hissed. "There will be nothing of you left by the time I decide to dispatch him. No. After all the headache you have caused me, I have no desire to be merciful. If only once, I will play the games of my brethren. I know now that the one thing this man fears more than anything is the beast inside him. The very marks on your skin. Being feared, hated, treated like an animal. For the life he holds in defiance of my will, I will contain him, force him rabid. There will be no denying the origin of my mark on his conscience for the rest of his miserable, numbered days."

.

"Get over yourself!" Gajeel roared. "Laxus doesn't give a shit about crap like that! He's too busy busting ghoul skulls!"

.

"Don't be so sure," Zade snarled under his breath. "I have been living inside his mind for the last month. Nothing makes him tremble like the thought of becoming something… _inhuman_ …"

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Laxus… are you ok?" Neirah stilled as he slowly shifted his lifeless gaze her way. The look on his face spelt out more than she was sure he wanted to admit to her with his simple words._

 _._

 _"_ _I didn't ask to be this way…"_

 _._

 _Neirah lowered her gaze, intimidated by the vulnerability in his sudden shift of demeanour. She knew that something had been bugging him since she'd turned him loose on Zade's creations, but she didn't mean to hurt him in doing so. She had known all along that Laxus was most powerful when he'd relinquished control. Blind rage had seen his merciless hand claim victory for Infinity Dragon that day, but she had no idea how badly that loss of control would scare him._

 _._

 _"_ _None of us did," she whispered tenderly. "But I guess when it's all you have left, you learn to embrace it."_

 _._

 _Laxus turned away with a disgruntled snort. "Not a chance in hell," he whispered bleakly. "If Natsu wants to crawl through the dirt like a fucking dog, that's his own damn problem. I'm not…" He cut his gaze from hers with a heavy heart. "I'm not an animal…"_

 _._

 _There was a look of hurt on Neirah's gentle features like his comment had somehow managed to offend her indirectly. She didn't look away from him no matter how badly he tried to keep their eyes from meeting. "Not all of us are so primal…"_

 _._

 _"_ _The magic, you always razz me for not usin'? The truth is, it scares the hell outta me," he breathed out raggedly. "I never asked for it… And those other idiots, they just don't think." He rushed his defence out energetically, hastened by grim conversation. "They won't get it until they take it just a little too far. Until all they know is the scent of blood and how high it gets you once you're consumed by it." His grip in his hair kneaded as he closed his eyes and tried to blot out foul memories. "And there's nothin' left of what you used to be…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Laxus, it doesn't have to be that way…"_

 _._

 _He shook his head, denying her comfort. "You don't get it. It's been there all along, fucking with my head. If I could carve it out, I would, but it's a part of me."_

 _._

 _"_ _The lacrima?"_

 _._

 _"_ _The monster it feeds…"_

 _._

 _Neirah's heart sank as she reached out and laid her fingers against his arm. Her touch was gentle, but stern; ignoring that he tried to shift away from it._

 _._

 _"_ _I try to ignore it, the way certain things call to me, but dragon slaying makes it worse. It starts something inside. I know it's there, but I can't stop wanting it. 'Cause… they're not all bad," he admitted softly before finally turning his gaze on her. "I almost lost you because I was trying to deny something I have no choice but to be… When I showed up earlier, it was those abilities I resented so much that helped me find you." He turned away again, his heart heavy with need. "Flowers… you always smell like them… Every time I even try to get close, it burns me up. Things I've got no right to feel..."_

 _._

 _Noticing the way he gripped his own hair for comfort, she shooed his hands away and replaced their effort. She watched the tension melt from his expression as his weighted gaze grew heavy with comforting exhaustion for her reassurance. "Every human has the right to feel," she whispered. A small and reassuring smile curled her lips as he looked back at her timidly, her fingers still massaging his nape._

 _._

 _He was lost in the tenderness of her stern cobalt gaze before his lips finally parted to deny her. "Not what I feel…"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"Don't do this to him," Neirah pleaded. "Please… don't…"

.

Zade came down from his vicious high and looked towards where Neirah collapsed to her knees.

.

"I would give up my pursuit of Reku if you would just show him mercy…" She threw her head back with a hysteric wail of denial. "Please don't make him live with those memories!"

.

"Shadow! Think about what yer fucking saying!" Gajeel reminded her boldly. "If Reku comes back, a hell of a lot of people die!"

.

Neirah's heart was aching. It was the cold, lifeless glare of her lover staring back at her with no attachment at all, no fight left in his menacing expression. "I don't care…" Her breathless murmur had Gajeel on edge. "Please… don't make him hurt the people he cares about…"

.

"Your devotion to your _guildmate_ inspires me," Zade murmured softly. He looked down to where Neirah offered her teary gaze back at the man. "So much so that I will alter my plans to let him live… and see that you are the only one _destroyed_ by him."

.

Neirah's gaze widened in sheer terror for the thought. She couldn't understand why a part of her wasn't relieved by Zade's decision. If it would get Zade to spare Laxus' life, she would have gladly given her own.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _How?" He forced his words from behind bared teeth, his voice airy and weak with the breath he used to utter them. "How can you stand here and say things like that… to me?"_

.

* * *

.

Zade narrowed his glare at her one last time as his projection faded. "Consider this the cost of my body," he warned. "He will live on the condition that he is forced to spend eternity with the realisation he killed the woman he loved with his own. two. hands."

.

Gajeel's gaze widened in horror as Zade's disappearance flipped a switch in Laxus and set him on his warpath. The first thing he'd done since adorning the power of his dragon force in blood coloured scales was palm the top of Neirah's head, dark claws biting into her scalp as he tossed her deeper into the vacant plains around them to separate her from her brother. She crashed into a dusty, unexpectant heap with a shrill cry of distress.

.

"You bastard!" Gajeel raged, drawing back an iron fist. He charged the void beast in hopes of retrieving his little sister from his clutches, but Laxus didn't so much as bat an eye towards the display as Gajeel leapt into the air with a defiant shout of fortitude. "You stay the hell away from her!"

.

Moments out of his frustration, Gajeel's desperate howls of pain were piercing the air similarly to his sister's moments after he was swallowed up in a similar pillar of lightning. By the time the light faded, he was thrown back through the air towards the mountain they'd traversed to reach the incapacitated lightning dragon. "S-Shadow…"

.

"Gotchya…" Pantherlily grunted, sailing between lightning strikes on nimble wings despite being in his battle form. "But barely."

.

"Lily?"

.

"ERAHHH! LAXUS!" Natsu drew his flaming fists back and plummeted towards his old friend. He didn't have to know the full story to see that Laxus wasn't playing for the right team.

.

He crashed into the lightning dragon full force, flames climbing to the sky with his strike. But through it all, Laxus still managed to get a hold of the fiery youth's head, and once he had, he shot about a thousand volts through his palm, into Natsu's skull, and dismissed his presence in the blink of an eye.

.

"Natsu!" Lucy wailed. She sprinted to his side as he collapsed from where Laxus had rocketed him into the cliffs of the mountain.

.

"This is bad!" Levy announced bleakly. She helped Lily to lay Gajeel on the ground and survey his wounds. "What on earth happened?!"

.

"Zade…" Gajeel growled bleakly, watching Neirah scurry away through the ashy plain to escape Laxus' slow advance. "He got in Laxus' head and turned him feral or somethin'…"

.

"I'll try to get her out of there!" Lily took flight with his sword in hand through the rain of lightning, dodging the stray bolts to get to Shadow's side.

.

"Lily don't!" Gajeel's warning was outshone by the sound of Pantherlily's indignant cries piercing over the thunder that shook the valley. The act of lunging forwards made Gajeel recoil in pain as he caught the travel sized cat that fell in place of the warrior. "If you even try to get close, he puts about ten thousand volts through yer fucking body."

.

"God, where is Erza when you need her…" Levy muttered bleakly as she watched Laxus retrieve Neirah from the dirt.

.

Lucy's eyes lit up with angry tears as she clutched Natsu to her breast, recoiling at the sight of Laxus blasting his guild master into the air before a charged kick to her lower back was catapulting her across the desolate plain face-first. "It's like Marionette all over again…" She shook her fears away. "We can see her suffering right there and we can't do a damn thing about it!"

.

"Lucy…?" Happy mewled weakly, watching her climb to her feet.

.

"Open! Gate of the maiden!" She thundered, releasing Virgo's spirit from the celestial world.

.

Her gaze flashed in determination as she adorned with a maid outfit to match her celestial spirit, her vision narrowing on her enemy. She took off running towards the lightning wizard at full speed.

.

"Lucy don't!" Levy warned.

.

"Lightning can't get us if we burrow underground!" Lucy announced, leaping into the air with Vigo by her side.

.

"Right, Mistress!" Virgo crooned. The two struck into the earth and burrowed their way beneath the battlefield.

.

Levy's heart raced as she clutched a still woozy Gajeel to her breast. "Come on, Lu…" Levy's heart stopped when Laxus paused what he was doing to look over his shoulder, leaving Neirah to dangle lifelessly by her throat in his fortifying grasp. Levy climbed to her feet in a panicked frenzy. "Lucy! Look out!"

.

Virgo burst from the ground and struck Laxus backwards, and just as his hold on Neirah released, Lucy was wrapping her arms around the girl before she hit the ground. "I don't know what's going on in your head right now, but I am NOT going to let you hurt Neirah!" She growled. "Come to your senses!"

.

Laxus' expression remained hollow as he straightened and redirected his gaze to Virgo, insult for her interference obviously received. "Princess?" She crooned timidly.

.

Moments after, Laxus had burst forwards, slamming his forearm into Virgo's throat. He raked the small framed woman from her post and buried her in the dirt from whence she came. Once he was knelt over top of her, his hand wrapped around her windpipe and the next crimson column pierced the sky.

.

"Virgo!" Lucy wailed in a volume falling shy of the shriek her delicate maid offered.

.

"I-I'm sorry… P-princess…"

.

Lucy's gaze widened and trembled in terror as Laxus' illuminated crimson gaze slowly tipped to hers before he rose. Her arms started to shudder around Neirah's limp figure as she froze in fear. She tightened her grip and reached for her keys on her hip. "Open! Gate of-"

.

"You can't beat him," Neirah murmured weakly against the timid blonde. "Even if you did manage to hurt him to the point that our Laxus wouldn't stand… he would still get up." Delicate tears rained over Neirah's face as she watched the lifeless mass slowly approach. "He's not in control of his actions anymore. The only way to stop him is to save him from Zade…"

.

"I'm not too proud to run!" Lucy assured her before taking a clumsy step back. "But we aren't running without you. Not again!"

.

Neirah smiled weakly, warmed by the girl's sentiment. "This isn't your fight…" She raised her hollow cerulean gaze to where Laxus had grown near. "It's his…"

.

Lucy was startled when Neirah ghosted through her arms and out of her embrace, and next, Neirah had stolen the whip on Lucy's hip. Neirah lashed out and curled the leather around Lucy's waist, dragging her through the air until she could pitch her towards safety. "Don't do this, Neirah!" Lucy cried out in frustration to the thick air around them, her uniform fading with Virgo's defeat.

.

Even though Lucy was caught by Happy, her furious wails of anguish remained. Her pain only amplified when she reached for her belt to draw another key to help her get her close to the girl when she realised Neirah had apprehended them. Neirah's smile back to her moments before she was struck down by Laxus would haunt Lucy for the rest of her days. "No!"

.

Neirah's agonised squeals filled the air as she was struck in the ribs and tossed like a rag doll through the air before she was used for electrical target practice. She parted her lips for a cough only to tremor with the thick weight of blood filling her lungs and staining her pitiful smile. Just when she thought the crippling current would let her collapse upon the ground, his hand was in her hair and holding her from reaching its cold peaceful surface.

.

She looked back at him hopelessly, searching for any signs that her gentle smile might force him to crack, but it didn't. There wasn't a flicker of hesitation as her body wracked with another piercing charge.

.

"Why!? Why is she doing this?!" Lucy wailed frantically on her hands and knees. "Why isn't she fighting back!?" Thunder crackled around them as Lucy climbed to her feet and charged the unruly beast head on.

.

Natsu stirred by the mountainside, his head throbbing with the pressure of the force he'd been dealt by Laxus not long before. "Uhn… Lucy…?"

.

Lucy's heart ached with how fiercely it throbbed beneath her chest as she made a break for her keys. "I've survived your lightning before! I'll do it again!"

.

"Lucy!" Natsu bellowed.

.

"Neirah!" Lucy's defiance wound up being in vain as Laxus no more than blinked and another devastating pillar pierced the sky over her screams.

.

Neirah's fingers trembled as she reached for the keys Laxus had made her fumble, desperate to cling to them and keep Lucy from trying to interfere. When Laxus took note of this, he slammed his foot down mercilessly on the poor girl's wrist, stomping it into the dirt.

.

Gajeel climbed to his feet, clutching his arm as he was forced to watch helplessly as his sister was overpowered. "Get up," he growled weakly. "Shadow, for the love of god you can fight this…"

.

Neirah bit down so hard on the inside of her cheek that blood rose as she felt her bones cracking beneath his cruelty. She whimpered as he knelt down by her side, the faintest of hopes filling her. "Laxus… please don't…"

.

Her words were captured by his palm as he drove it so fiercely against her windpipe that his knuckles grew white and sank her bones into the earth. What she was experiencing wasn't a battle, it was a slaughter. No matter how badly she wanted to resist him, she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to raise her hand.

.

To feel that way again…

.

Her train of thought escaped her with her last complete breath and her panicked heart raced with anguish beneath the walls of her battered chest. But even though her lips were blood-stained, she still parted them for a smile. She couldn't help but find it ironic. "I guess… we've come full circle… haven't we," she breathed out weakly beneath the palm set on choking the life from her body. "…Sparky…"

.

She wasn't surprised when she wasn't offered a response. He couldn't hear her, couldn't see her. He was no more than an extension of manipulative magic, a trait shared by all the Austalian Elitists out for Ryverika's power. Zade was no different and closer to Karua than the Ghoul Knight would ever care to admit. But unlike the Puppet Master, Zade had no interest in toying with his prey, he was ruthless and full of purpose. Without the static of his malicious interference, there would be no hope of breaking the control he had over his subordinate.

.

She thought seeing it might help shake him free of Zade's hold, how far she would go for a smile; how far they'd come for one. The land was scarred around them, lightning piercing the rocky plain that had been burnt beyond recognition in the wake of her struggle. That's all it was, a struggle for survival against a rampant beast that she had no intentions of raising a hand to. She couldn't.

.

She had promised.

.

* * *

.

 _No matter how plush the sheets on the bed were, they managed to feel like nails and razor blades as she rolled among them. Her fingers ached and her knuckles grew white with the tension in her grip increasing. Soon, she was clutching the hotel sheets so tightly that her palms began to sweat among them despite the cool temperature of the room. Her brow trembled with her discomfort as she lingered in the cruel grip of the shadowy horrors consuming her dreams. Despite her actions being subconsciously inspired by the terrors of her mind, her lips parted to let her gentle, broken cries escape in silent pleas for help. Suddenly, the chills of the cold sweat that had risen on her skin were broken by a familiar warmth that always seemed to find her when she needed it the most._

 _._

 _"_ _Neirah, hey wake up."_

 _._

 _Her inhale was sharp and deep as her eyes flew open. She recoiled forwards and surfaced from the deep sea of her nightmares only to be caught in her lover's comforting embrace as she sprang from the depths. She shuddered against him, eyes wide as she stared at his bandaged chest and tried to separate reality from the horrors she'd faced when she closed them. Before long, the comforting warmth of his arms wrapped protectively around her and the way the moonlight illuminated the room had a sense of relief washing over her tired mind. Her gaze narrowed weakly with her exhaustion as she slowly slipped her arms around his waist and returned his embrace with a submissive whimper._

 _._

 _"_ _Bad dreams?" She felt him breathe out gently against her hairline._

 _._

 _"_ _They won't stop," she whimpered out in broken tones filled with heartache. "After all this time, I can't stop these memories of Karua and the pain he caused everyone." She snuggled as close as she could get to him as her tears started to roll, sealing her eyes to deny them as they fought to leak over her cheeks. "Laxus, I didn't mean to hurt you."_

 _._

 _"_ _Come on, don't start this again." She let a trembling sigh of relief escape her, her tears dampening his skin as she nuzzled into his reassurance. "I'm fine, your brother's fine… You have to stop beatin' yourself up over this." He whispered his words softly against her temple, his hand at her nape gently teasing her roots in comfort. His heavy gaze wandered, surfacing his own memories of the events that had transpired during Marionette's attacks. "It wasn't your fault," he assured her as gently as a hypocrite could. He rested his fingertips strongly against the back of her head where they had buried themselves in her tousled locks._

 _._

 _"_ _What if you didn't get up…?" She whimpered breathlessly, her trembling growing fiercer against him as she roused panic inside herself by envisioning the possibilities. "What if I was as strong then as I am now? I could have kil-" She squeaked lightly when he forced her sharply back away from where she was hiding in his arms, his gaze flashing darkly with his determination as he snatched her wrist and drew her hand out in front of her. Her heart raced when he laid his palm flat against hers, staring down at her as seriously as the day he had returned from Tenrou._

 _._

 _"_ _I'm what's real. Not him," he guaranteed her sternly. His expression softened when he looked back into her deep blue gaze and watched her tears carry the moonlight over her cheeks. He diverted his attention sheepishly, not meaning to be as cold to her as he assumed she felt he was. "Neirah," he murmured gently. He finished by sliding his fingers slowly between hers, gently encouraging her touch to meet his chest as he drew her back against him. He left her open palm against the dark tribal lines on his chest in order for his since freed hand to find the base of her throat._

 _._

 _The slightest of smiles graced his expression as she pressed her skin into his touch, his fingertips rising over her neck until his thumb could rest against her jaw. "Neirah, look at me," he encouraged tenderly. He had to catch his breath to keep from displaying pity to a woman that he knew trusted him to believe in her strengths, he could never care too much, on the outside, at the very least. "If you were as strong then as you are now, he wouldn't have been able to force you to do those things. Actually, if it weren't for your strengths, I might not've gotten back up that day." She cried gently against his palm with her exhaustion as she closed her eyes and slipped her trembling fingers around his wrist. His scent, the sound of his voice and the warmth of his skin, she couldn't understand why the comfort he offered her senses was what felt surreal._

 _._

 _"_ _Never again," she whispered bleakly. "That man… that magic… I never want to see either ever again…" She lingered for a moment in peace, the warmth of his palm on her cheek spreading throughout her entirety. Finally, she let the slow and gentle cradling of her fingertips slide up his wrist towards her until she could manipulate his hand with hers. She closed her eyes and turned into his palm, her fingers slipping between his as her palm rested against the back of his hand to keep him still. His grip lingered loosely against her encouragement as her trembling lips brushed by his fingertips with a breathless sigh. "I don't care what happens, I refuse to fight you. Not like that," she whispered tenderly. "I promise you. Never again."_

 _._

 _When she released his hand to crawl back into his embrace, he slipped his fingers into her hair with a steadying inhale, his lethargic gaze shifting over the sheets at her back. "Even if he did crawl back out of his grave, I wouldn't let him take you from me," he assured her protectively as his embrace grew unintentionally strong with his wandering thoughts. "I'd bury him six feet deeper, but I won't lose you again." His breath caught when she tipped her head back from where she had snuggled against him, her trembling sigh gentle beneath his chin. His wide expression dimmed with the feeling of her lips parting against his neck, and his own trembling exhales found him when he realised that they hadn't parted to speak. He indirectly encouraged her advance when his head fell back to offer her languid kisses the room they needed to indulge, his eyes drifting shut in the same breath his lips parted to draw in._

 _._

 _Her fingernails skirted delicately over his throat until they met the hair at his nape. Her dark lashes fluttered open before her narrowed gaze rolled slowly to where she could observe where he'd grown content with her affections. A blissful sigh had her concealing her shimmering gaze once more before she tipped her head back just a little further to reach where she could place her gentle kiss on the underside of his chin. "Laxus…?" She whispered breathlessly inquisitive. She took the masculine grunt preceding his dry swallow as a sign of his acknowledgement and continued. "Remind me why it's you…" She opened her eyes again when she felt the tension grow in his embrace, and with the disturbance of his grip on the back of her head slipping free, she cast her gaze towards the one he'd lowered to meet with hers._

 _._

 _The look of silent bemusement on his face had a small smile curling her lips, a warm flush finding the swell of her cheekbones. She tilted her affectionate gaze to one side, allowing it to follow her fingertips as they climbed the right side of his face until they were whispering across the altered colouration of the skin beneath his eye. "Why you're the only one I can never forget."_

 _._

 _After watching starlight dance affectionately in her eyes for a long moment, he diverted his gaze with a sheepish smile and took her wandering fingertips in his hand, encouraging her touch to return to where he'd earlier enjoyed her absently teasing the hair at the base of his neck. "You know that's a touchy subject," he warned her impishly. He raised his gaze to where his thumb caught the luscious pout of her lower lip._

 _._

 _"_ _Still haunting you, hm, Sparky?" She crooned, beckoning him closer with the increase of pressure she'd offered with the hand he'd returned to his skin. She smiled softly and turned her lips away from his touch before leaning closer to where she'd encouraged his approach. "I don't want to be a shadow on your conscience," she mewled gently. Each of her words drew her closer to his anxiously parted lips. "But a shadow on your sheets…"_

 _._

 _She kept a steady grip on his shoulder as he leant forward, his broad shadow with the moon at his back concealing her small figure as she was laid out beneath him. He tipped his head to one side in observance of her giddy chuckle treating the dark shades of the shadowed sheets like her prison as she threw her arms back alongside her face. She twisted lustfully, whining as she writhed beneath him while being careful not to let her fingertips breach the boundaries of light and darkness._

 _._

 _He scoffed lightly and caught the side of her squirming face against one of his large palms, unintentionally encouraging her to open her eyes. Her eyes had darkened with the expansion of her pupils leaving her expression playful like that of a feline as she smiled back at him. "Does anyone even call you that anymore?" He teased ruefully. His thumb absently rolled over the tattoo beneath the corner of her eye._

 _._

 _"_ _Of course they do," she quipped back mischievously. She curled her chin towards her chest before shifting her coy gaze towards him from beneath heavy lashes. She drew back one of her feet before slowly sliding it up over his thigh, curling it around his hip as she reached out and laid her fingertips on the wrist that braced him above her. "Big Brother still calls me Shadow." She didn't have to watch him roll his eyes in derision to know what came next._

 _._

 _"_ _Did you ever think that maybe Screwball's got a couple screws loose?"_

 _._

 _Neirah craned her head to the opposite side it was resting with a low groan of warning. "You wanna rumble with infinity, tough guy?" She warned shrewdly. She clenched the sheets as she puffed her chest with her deep inhalation. Her resolve cracked when, in his amusement, his arrogant smile was replaced and his hot palm found the buckle in her knee that had tangled itself around him._

 _._

 _"_ _I thought that was why you were rollin' around in my shadow like a little beastie," he mocked gently. He leant against her collar to scatter slow kisses along her bare skin, his palm leisurely crawling up her thigh, and with it, came the hem of her silk nighty._

 _._

 _A guttural groan filled with lust passed her smiling lips as she laced both sets of fingertips in his hair, clinging to the exciting tickle of his lips sliding across the swell of her full breasts that swelled over the collar of her nightgown. "Careful, Prince," she warned blissfully through her arousal. She squirmed as his fingertips balled into the material of her gown upon meeting her hip. "I think I've got a good couple rounds in me."_

 _._

 _His low rumble of satisfaction chilled her as he redirected his attention from where he'd been teasing her flushed bust line. "If you can handle one round of what I've got planned, I'll be impressed."_

 _._

 _She arched into him so that she could brush her lips against his as she spoke. "Your arrogance precedes you, as usual."_

 _._

 _"_ _And that's why it's me," he rumbled softly. He sank his fingertips into her skin as the tips of their noses met. "I'm the only one who can put this scrawny little brat in her place."_

 _._

 _"_ _And that place is…?" She breathed her words out weakly, her gaze becoming harder and harder to meet with the slow descent of her shameless expression._

 _._

 _"_ _Right here." His free hand intertwined his fingers with hers before laying them possessively beneath his clutches against the sheets of the bed. "In my shadow," he finished in a hoarse whisper against her lips._

 _._

 _"_ _I won't go easy on you just because you're cute," she forced out desperately in a pathetically small voice._

 _._

 _"_ _I wouldn't expect anything less from infinity."_

.

* * *

.

And there she trembled. In his shadow. There was nowhere she'd rather be.

.

"Don't let him do this… to you…" Neirah wheezed out weakly. "Laxus… this isn't you… you're not… doing this… These things." She smiled back up at him sadly, praying for even the slightest ray of hope as the storm raged around them. "You aren't an animal…"

.

Her trembling fingertips slithered weakly through the dust at her back before crawling along her wounded flesh to meet his wrist. Tears glistened against her dirty cheeks and reflected in the lightning rocking the earth beneath her with its contact. "Who… w-who would have thought?" She squeaked out through her exhausted smile. "That we'd come this far…" She closed her eyes to deny herself the seething wrath of the man above her, hardly human since he'd been leashed by the enemy.

.

* * *

.

 _Neirah closed her eyes and tried her hardest not to see the pain that she'd just managed to cause her friend. "Please… make it stop," she whimpered in heartbreak. "Laxus, stop holding back!" She screamed._

 _._

 _"How could you care about someone who so obviously despises you?"_

 _._

 _Neirah's gaze flashed back to normal just in time to see the attack before it struck her down again. Neirah whimpered softly and crawled to her knees, her fingers raking through the upturned earth with her resistance. "You... know... nothing," she sneered through ground teeth._

 _._

 _"You're still the terrified child you were when your father left you. I can make you stronger. Defend yourself against this traitor! If he really cared about you, he wouldn't strike you so cruelly. Finish him and I will take the pain away like it never existed!"_

 _._

 _"It doesn't hurt," she hissed lowly. "He could never... It's not what I want from him..." Her admittance was warm, her tired mind trying desperately to hold onto the comfort of her memories._

 _._

* * *

.

"It took me fourteen years… but I found you," she rasped. She arched desperately to try and release enough of his pressure to maintain a weakened airflow. "I found your smile…" She closed her eyes with a frail whimper. "It's all I ever wanted… All I thought it'd be…"

.

Levy, tears in her eyes, decided that she might try and liberate Infinity Dragon's guild master from the clutches of her greatest weakness. Seeing her take flight, Gajeel quickly threw his arms around her and held her tight against him. "Gajeel! You have to help her!" Levy wailed her pleas to the humid air, struggling to escape his defensive embrace as they watched the spectacle unfold. "Please, Gajeel! He'll kill her!"

.

Gajeel winced with the power of her truth escaping her in shrill screeches of agony. "What do you want me to do?!" Her thundered bitterly over the crashing of the storm around them. "If I thought I had a chance in hell, don't you think I'd be right there tryin' to drag her out of there?!" Levy answered his questions with more howling tears. "Knock it off!" He demanded through his own well of panic finding outlet on tightening his grip on the squirmy girl. "Even if we could get past all that damn static, we'd be goners as soon as she fought back!"

.

"I don't care!" Levy shrieked, flailing from his grasp.

.

"Levy!"

.

She drew her hand back along her chest, a determined furrow in her brow as her damp cheekbones flushed with determination. "She won't!" Levy demanded. "There's no w-" The moment Gajeel's arms were back around her she was thrashing about uncontrollably with her frustration. "Gajeel! Shadow needs us! LET ME GO!"

.

"I CAN'T!" His roar was deafening to her heart as her eyes flew open to glare at the sight vacantly before her. "If you so much as returned a library book late when you were six, her magic'll tear you apart," he forced out through a ragged and emotional struggle to articulate his warning. He ground his teeth, denying the salty taste of teardrops reaching his chin as they passed by his agonised grimace. "She's my kid sister," he stammered out weakly.

.

"Shadow!" Levy threw her head back with a shattered scream, frustrated with the truth in his words.

.

They were weak in her woozy mind, but they were there. Levy and Gajeel were close. With the pained cries of Natsu being stricken down every time he tried to approach, she knew he and Lucy hadn't gone anywhere either. "We still manage to cause… quite a stir," she whispered weakly as her darkening vision denied her chances of survival. "But I wouldn't have changed a thing…" Her fingertips rested against his skin but their presence there escaped her comprehension. She had long since numbed to the feeling in her fingers and toes. Tears streamed down her face with the rise of her longing as she drew her hand away, trying her best to steady it as her remaining strength exhausted to raise it.

.

"Natsu! It's no use!" Lucy cried. "He's too strong!"

.

"No!" Natsu bellowed in denial. "Gajeel and I took him down once, we'll do it again! I'm SICK and TIRED of people trying to take Shads away from her FAMILY!" Lucy was forced to flinch in a rattled mess of her tears as she turned away from the sight of Natsu being stricken to the ground by another absent lightning strike. The crimson flashes were violent and wouldn't stop raining from above in methodic and merciless strikes.

.

"Nei-rah…" Lucy sobbed out to the sky as she hit her knees. "HOW!?" She wailed, throwing her head back in demand of heaven's reply. "How can you do this to them!?"

.

"She won't!" Levy denied, back to struggling against Gajeel's hold on her. "She won't risk his life to use her magic! Please, Gajeel!"

.

Gajeel was beyond response as he buried his face against Levy's unnerved figure to hide his tears. He couldn't watch his little sister suffer anymore; not when the woman he loved was also at stake. He was tired and confused, in no way able to comprehend his choice of actions.

.

"STOP IT!" Lucy cried out loud enough to drown out the next crack of thunder above. She threw her balled fists against the ashy earth. "Leave Neirah ALONE!"

.

"Lucy, look out!" Natsu shouted in panic, diving across the plain to rake Lucy's unaware figure out of the striking path of the next blood-stained flash. Lucy caught her breath and looked past where Natsu had dragged her to the side.

.

"What's happening?" She murmured weakly in confused observance.

.

"I don't know, but we gotta get out of here before we find out," he assured her gruffly.

.

Levy whimpered shrilly with her clumsy dodge of the scattered array of bolts skittering along the landscape. "It's Laxus…"

.

"Get down!" Gajeel demanded, raking her from her feet by her collar.

.

Levy raised her head from her arms to watch Neirah raise her arm with the remainder of her strength. Her eyes widened and she quickly scrambled to her feet, leaving Gajeel in the dust behind her. "NO!"

.

"Levy, what the hell!?" Gajeel demanded, watching her take off towards Neirah and Laxus.

.

"Shadow, you can't! He's starting to come around!"

.

"LEVY FOR THE LOVE OF-!"

.

"That's why the lightning is acting so strange! It's not Zade anymore! It's Laxus!" Gajeel scrambled to his feet in panic, too late to stop the crimson strike from sending Levy into a battle-damaged heap in the combat zone with a devastated scream.

.

"Idiot!" Gajeel hissed, scooping her up into his arms before dodging the accelerated strikes around them.

.

"She can't…" Levy murmured weakly.

.

"Well if she listens like you do, it wouldn't matter if you could get to her!" Gajeel grumbled impatiently while taking cover nearby. "She couldn't… The kid's way too fond of the jerk… She'd never risk his life to use that kinda power."

.

"I can look after myself… right…?" Neirah breathed out gently. Her fingertips weakly scathed the crimson scales covering her lover's arms. "You always believed in me." She squeaked as terrified tears streamed over her jaw. "Now… it's my turn," she concluded weakly. "To believe… in you…" She finally reached his face, where her touch barely roused a response from her nerves. "For one last smile…"

.

The world went silent for that moment in time that the light of Infinity's Judgment pierced the cloudy sky above. Levy's lips parted to scream, but it fell silent with the smile Neirah forced over her trembling lips. Lucy turned away and covered her ears, leaving Natsu to stare vacantly towards the spread of light like it was an explosion over the land. His gaze trembled as he watched it approach, the illumination forcing the two figures from his sight with the unexpected casting of Neirah's infinite purification magic. "No…" Natsu murmured breathlessly in utter disbelief. The magic would purify everything that was tainted with sin; would repent every injustice in the light of its final breath. And without Neirah being able to properly harness its purity on such a large scale…

.

It would destroy him.

.

Gajeel shook his head to try and adjust his confused expression. Memories flooded him of the battle he'd partaken in back at Cardia Cathedral in X784, a battle that surely would have left a stain on Laxus' existence that would make him more than vulnerable to the infinite dragon's spells. Just as vulnerable as Gajeel knew he himself was to her divine light. "The kid… really…"

.

Natsu sealed his eyes and ground his teeth in denial.

.

"She wouldn't," Lucy murmured softly. "It's all… it's all just a bad dream!" She denied in bewilderment, tears pouring over her cheeks as her wide-eyed gaze pierced dimensions. "Neirah would never take a friend's life!"

.

Natsu threw his head back with a tortured roar. "LAXUS!"

.

"Get out…" Neirah hissed vindictively.

.

The light was fading with the lightning, leaving crimson sparks to crawl across the desecrated and charged plain they lingered in with the retreating golden rays of infinite magic. Her breath. She gasped deeply for air, grateful for even its sulphur-stained presence in her lungs as she closed her eyes and tried to regain her stability. As she banished the feeling of inebriation brought on by asphyxiation, she let her fingers collapse against her chest to feel the motion of sustaining life.

.

Life.

.

 _What a strange concept_ , she thought.

.

What would you risk to save your life if it was in danger of fading from beneath someone's fingertips? Even gentle fingertips that used to hold you when you cried. She slowly sat up, refusing to open her eyes as the tears of her friends echoed around her with the regaining of her comprehension. What would you risk, to save the one that you love?

.

The tear that reached her chest burned through her like acid, but it was the most pleasant feeling that life had offered her that day. A few of her own surfaced as she curled her lips into a tight-lipped smile and slowly opened her eyes.

.

Crimson scales were shedding from his arms as he sank his fingertips into his hair and clung to his scalp like he wished they'd go deeper. Ebony claws retracted with the expulsion of his magic, canines receding ever so slightly. She heard the catch in his breath before every one to come after was trembling as he drew it in. She was heartbroken when he flinched with the feeling of her touch lying on the side of his face like it was toxic. She didn't flee from his struggle as he tried to deny his bared grimace, instead, she embraced him.

.

The weight of her arms only seemed to force more devastated tears from his eyes as he trembled beneath her grip, refusing to return her embrace or acknowledge her comfort. He was trapped somewhere dark that he couldn't escape no matter the light that had freed him moments before. "Neirah," he coughed out feebly. "N-Neirah… I…"

.

She laid her face against his shoulder, clutching his distraught figure tight to her breast. "Welcome to infinity, Sparky," she whispered tenderly. She slid one hand into his hair to encourage his hands to free his tormented spirit. Finally, he wrapped his arms around her broken body and clung to her for stability as his head reeled with the phantoms of nightmares that would plague him for many nights to come.

.

He attempted some inaudible pleas, stammering out fragments of apologies and affections until his throat was scratchy from being silent for so long. His voice didn't even sound like his own, it was distant, empty, heartbroken. Shattered. He couldn't force it to warm with his affection for her, his need for her to stay by his side until he could assure himself that she was alive in his arms.

.

"You survived… I'm so glad…" She whispered her proud confession weakly, nuzzling against his neck as she clung to his disoriented figure. "Heaven's Rain… you won't be alone… in this fight…"

.

He didn't know what she meant when she said it, didn't know what team Heaven's Rain had left to fight. He was so busy holding her, wracked with his own uncertainty, that he hadn't noticed she had slipped out of consciousness in his arms.


	12. I'd Give it All

_**I'd Give It All**_

* * *

.

.

The company was sickeningly silent late that afternoon as they returned to the base of the mountain. Gajeel had his unconscious little sister draped over his arms, Levy close by his side and monitoring Neirah's condition. The Infinity Dragon guild master had been resting since the night before when she was attacked by one of the people she'd trusted most in the world. After hours of walking, they sauntered across the mountain once more on their way to their temporary home.

.

Lucy kept a weathered eye on Natsu's trembling fists as he dragged his feet behind her. They had displayed fits of tension as they walked that she completely expected to result in violence. Luckily, he had no such eruption. Even Natsu knew that the unfortunate circumstance of the situation was delicate.

.

"If I ever get my hands on the creep responsible for this… I'll kill him…"

.

Lucy shifted her gaze downcast instead of watching Natsu seeth hatred. It was true that every one of them wanted to see an end to the Austalian cult obsessed with resurrection and unfathomable power, but unlike Karua, Zade didn't waste his time taunting them. He didn't give them a target to vent their frustrations. He really was ruthless.

.

Lucy looked back to where Laxus had fallen so far behind them that a passerby likely wouldn't have associated them with each other at all. He had yet to speak since Gajeel pried Neirah's broken unconscious figure out of his arms the night before. 'Poor guy,' Lucy thought humbly. 'I've never seen him look so beaten…'

.

"Hmn... Big Brother…?"

.

"Gajeel! Shadow's waking up!" Levy informed him quickly. Their mountainous descend was almost complete, and none too soon for the iron dragon's tired arms.

.

Lucy flinched when she watched a heart-wrenching look of fear steal Laxus' expression before he froze in his tracks. From there, she started to piece together the situation. 'It finally happened,' she thought hopefully. She had been calculating the subtle reactions she'd witnessed in the last twenty-four hours. 'They finally admitted that they had feelings for each other…'

.

Arihana was the first to her feet as Gajeel broke through the trees with Neirah in his arms. "Empress!" She was moments from running towards her when Levy stepped by Gajeel's side. "I- who…?"

.

"This is Levy," Gajeel informed her swiftly. He knelt to set Neirah down by the fire crackling in the clearing. "We worked tagether on the council. Her and these other meddling goons popped in from Fairy Tail. I guess things are gettin' pretty bad on the outside."

.

Arihana received the news comfortably, but the smaller Edolas counterpart of their guild master did not. Edolas Neirah squirmed in her seat guiltily, her heart racing as Levy's hazel gaze met hers.

.

"No way… There really is another Shadow…" Levy murmured gently upon catching the youthful looking woman diverting her gaze.

.

Infinity Dragon's guild master narrowly opened her eyes and looked up into Arihana's worrisome lavender ones. "We're back," she mewled through a weak smile.

.

"You are, Empress," Arihana assured her. "You're safe now…"

.

"And Laxus?"

.

Lucy's heart twisted in her chest when she watched Laxus start away from the group, refusing to break through the trees towards the clearing at the base of the mountain. Instead, his feet took him in a different direction entirely; one far from where his guild master stirred.

.

Arihana looked out over the clearing where Natsu and Lucy lingered with the team's Exceeds close by. "He's not-"

.

Lucy shuddered when Natsu dove into the bushes in front of Laxus, grabbing him by the front of his shirt to detour him from exiting.

.

"Just where the hell do you think you're going!?" Natsu raged.

.

"Natsu! Leave him alone!" Lucy ordered. "This wasn't his fault!"

.

"You heard your guild master!" Natsu bellowed. He was desperate to lock gaze with the man who was keen to look anywhere but. "Shads asked for you! And you're gonna go over there and-"

.

Natsu flinched as Gajeel raised him off the ground by the back of his shirt, allowing Laxus passage. "Cut it out, Salamander. This ain't easy for him to swallow." Gajeel opened his eyes, his gaze meeting an exhausted lightning dragon's in the process. "Don't worry… He won't go far."

.

Laxus lingered in the moment before diverting his gaze, taking the iron dragon's silent warning. Even if he wanted to run, he knew deep down that their paths would see him to Neirah's feet again, even if it was only to beg on his knees for forgiveness. He couldn't hide from what he'd done, but for a moment, if only, he had to walk away from it.

.

Gajeel watched as Laxus silently continued on his path, a squirmy fire dragon flailing in his grasp.

.

"Erahh! Lemme go!" Natsu thundered. "You can't just let him mope around like that! You know how he gets!"

.

"Give it a rest, would you?" Gajeel growled. He closed his eyes and tossed the feisty boy to the forest floor. "All Shads asked was to know if he was safe and 'e is." Gajeel watched Laxus step solemnly through the forest, his shoulders hunched and head hung regretfully. "Just give 'im a bit to take it in…"

.

Damion took Gajeel's side, a foreboding look on his face as he watched over Arianna treating Neirah's wounds. "What happened out there?"

.

Gajeel's gaze lowered to the earth in contemplation. "Turns out Laxus actually did kick Zade's ass last time they fought. Blasted 'im right into nothin'." He raised his gaze back to where Arihana helped Neirah to sit up. "But all it managed to do was piss 'im off…"

.

"He's still out there?"

.

Gajeel nodded sternly. "Said somethin' about merging himself with Reku's as we speak."

.

"Fuck, that's why we couldn't find the old snake," Damion hissed. "Not to mention, while we were outskies lookin' for the zappy bro, we came across one more village 86'd on the border of the forest. Looks like all of them are gone now. That must mean he's got the sacrifices he needs to go forward with 'is plans."

.

"Shit…" Gajeel growled. "So where does that leave us?"

.

Damion's expression was abnormally bleak for the laid-back water wizard as he looked back at Gajeel. "If I know Zade, an' I do, now that he's got the magic stored up he'll be quick about it. I'd say we got forty-eight hours to track him down and rain hell on his head before we've got a dragon pest issue on our hands."

.

Gajeel's expression paled as he contemplated their next move, Arihana joining their company as Neirah chatted up Levy. "Great. Our fucking guild master and our best defence against a resurrected infinite dragon is down for the count. Her damn second is wallowin' in self-pity."

.

"The Empress isn't as down as you might like to believe," Arihana assured him confidently. "From a cursory examination, she looks to have a few cracked ribs, a fractured wrist; but on a whole, she is simply exhausted. I would attribute that to the emotional strain of the events."

.

Gajeel's brow creased in consideration. "The kid's been pretty beat the last week er' so. Sleepin' in, takin' it slow. She's got a real lifeless look about her."

.

"I don't blame 'er," Damion drawled sympathetically. "This Austalian cluster fuck's gone on long enough. We can pretty much taste the end of it…" He turned and looked back at Gajeel and Arihana. "Or the end of us; I'm the optimist."

.

"Man, it's good to see you, Shads!" Levy gave the woman a gentle hug to avoid agitating her wounds. "The guild has been so down since you guys left…"

.

"I don't think the master appreciated losing two of his best wizards when war is knocking on our door," Neirah crooned.

.

Levy thrust three fingers out in front of Neirah's nose. "Three of his best wizards," she assured her friend. "You sell yourself short, Shads. You've got an insane amount of power."

.

Neirah smiled sadly and diverted her attention. "I just can't use it without risking the lives of my friends…"

.

"Laxus survived…"

.

Neirah turned her hopeful gaze to where Levy smiled supportively back at her.

.

"So, you must be getting stronger to have been able to control which darkness your magic targeted."

.

Neirah gasped as Levy held up Suri's weathered journal to the infinite slayer's exhausted gaze. "The Kho'Misika N'Ahrai," she breathed out tenderly. She slowly took the book from Levy to clutch it tightly to her chest. "You kept it safe all this time…"

.

"Sure did," Levy hummed. "I managed to translate a little more of it too while you were away."

.

Neirah shifted a dreary and knowing gaze Levy's way, her heart instantly dropping into her stomach. "Was there anything there… about what happens when…"

.

"Nothing…" Levy whispered grimly. "Shads…" Levy reached out and took Neirah's hands in her own, holding them tightly. "Promise me you won't. Promise me you won't break that seal…"

.

"Levy, I might not have a choice," she whispered hastily. She tried her best to keep her tone from prying ears. "If Reku is resurrected-"

.

"Please…" Levy begged. "Please don't put Gajeel through that…" Her hands started to tremble around Neirah's. "The rest of the guild, they're all waiting for you to come home… but the master, he-"

.

Neirah's eyes filled with hurt as she looked back into Levy's. "He knows, doesn't he?"

.

Levy diverted her gaze and nodded solemnly. "I don't know why, but a part of me feels like he's always known…"

.

"Yet… he let me stay…" Neirah was crushed by the weight of Levy's reveal. "He let me take his grandson away from him…"

.

"Yo, what's our plan of attack, Mastah?" Damion crooned. He dropped his butt down beside Levy and Neirah with a quizzical look on his dark features. "Got a lot of trouble a'brewin'."

.

"Arihana told me," Neirah murmured bleakly before releasing Levy's hands. "The problem is that I'm sure finding Zade before that happens is going to be next to impossible. We'd have better luck finding him once he's merged with Reku and they make their move. It's pretty hard to lose a dragon."

.

"We lost one yesterday and you found him," Arihana crooned supportively. "I have faith in you, Empress."

.

Neirah smiled warmly at the delicate woman taking their side. "I appreciate the faith, but I'm seriously at a loss for leads."

.

"Maybe we can help," Lucy encouraged. "We don't have a really good idea of what's happening, but I do know that Infinity Dragon has been made criminal in the past few months. Natsu, Levy and I could at least look for Zade without being wanted by the council and Fiore's army."

.

"That's notta half bad idea outta blondie," Damion crooned. "'Bout time we got one with somethin' between the ears."

.

"Hrm, it would help if we had an idea of where to start though…" Levy theorised.

.

"It shouldn't be too hard," Lucy mused in consideration. "Where the heck do you hide that you're resurrecting a _dragon_?"

.

"And now I'm insulted. She can go sit the with zappy fuck in the corner of shame," Damion chided in a huff before folding his arms over his chest.

.

"Hey! I'm tryin' to help you, buddy!"

.

"We have been searching for the resurrection grounds endlessly, even before the Empress took over our guild. Before that, Kairyn also diligently searched the land," Arihana defended. "Nobody has even been able to locate the gathering of magical energy from the sacrifices. It should be impossible for a congregation of that much power to be lost."

.

Natsu scoffed bitterly and turned up his nose. "I still don't like that guy," he growled.

.

Damion threw out his hand towards the edge of the clearing. "You too! Shame, Smoky! Shame!"

.

"Hide a dragon…" Levy murmured quietly to herself, forgetting that she was in the presence of five dragon slayers.

.

"Well, he ain't no dragon yet," Damion assured her. "That's why he needs Zade's magic. He needs a damn body."

.

"The boy they are resurrecting in the form of infinity was the Empress' predecessor. The first host they tried to merge with Ryverika's consciousness,'' Arihana educated. "He went mad with the torment before he finally took his own life…"

.

"I seem to recall hearing something about that," Pantherlily encouraged.

.

"The kid was Karua's by actual blood," Gajeel informed them casually from where he'd leant up against the trunk of a tree. "The guy Shads vaporised after destroyin' Marionette's stronghold mentioned somethin' about Karua's kid."

.

"They came close with Reku, but when he took his life, his father immediately tried to repeat the process; ironing out the wrinkles in his plan that saw Reku lose control," Arihana continued. "Empress was the last Austalian born to the sacred city."

.

Levy interrupted supportively. "So, this Reku, he was born in the lost city?"

.

Arihana nodded.

.

"What about Zade?"

.

Damion took up replying to the curious script mage's prying. "Zade was born there, but he was raised in the kingdom. His father wanted to keep 'is nose clean," he informed. "But when the a-r-m-y gave 'im the boot, he went back to see his father's dyin' wish come true."

.

"What a shitty dying wish…" Gajeel growled.

.

Levy's eyes widened, her heart racing with the thought. "Ok hold up guys, let me get this out before I lose it," she encouraged hastily. "Zade can't harm you here because of Suri's enchantment, right?"

.

"Right," Neirah agreed. "She's protected this mountain since Ryverika has lived here."

.

"But an enchantment is an enchantment, right?" Levy encouraged. "Even if it is powerful, it's not protected."

.

Damion shook his head. "Don't gotta be," he assured her. "Alra'Bekthian is a dead language."

.

Arihana nodded in concurrence. "Not even Master Kairyn knew how to speak or read the language of demons."

.

"True, it's not an easy language to learn!" Levy agreed. "But to someone born there, it would be second nature!"

.

Neirah shook her head, not sure where Levy was going with her thought. "I was the last child born into the Austalian cult, and thanks to Karua, my memories of ever speaking the language are pitiful at best."

.

Levy pointed the end of her light pen towards Neirah. "I wasn't talking about you."

.

Damion's brow furrowed as he followed Levy's train of thought, watching the small script mage chart out a map. "You mean Reku then?" He instigated. "Dunno why it matters. Without his body, he can't get here to threaten us."

.

Levy smiled triumphantly. "Not here. Just between here and Crocus."

.

"I'm not following…"

.

Lucy's eyes lit up in realisation. "That's right! You and Gajeel saw something similar to this while you were on the hunt for Avatar."

.

Levy nodded sternly. "Right!"

.

"Ok, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the reins, chum," Damion enforced. "I'm gonna need more than that."

.

"Alright," Levy announced. "Now, it might be nothing, but just hear me out. While Gajeel and I were travelling through the capital, I noticed a strange and powerful presence off the beaten trail. When we investigated, it turned out to be an enchantment. I'm crazy about ancient scripts and stuff, so after looking into it, I found out it was a concealment circle. That's why I was so keen on coming here to examine this one. They're both written in Alra'Bekthian and both crazy old!"

.

"Do you think they were both set by Suri?" Lily encouraged.

.

"I can't say for sure, but to Natsu, Lucy and I, this just looks like a regular mountain. But from what I understand, everyone marked by Infinity Dragon sees a guild hall."

.

"That's right," Arihana agreed.

.

"What I'm getting at, is that Reku doesn't need to have a body to rewrite enchantments. All he needs is the knowledge and a pair of hands to do it for him! This magic is so strong to have lasted here for so long, it would be more than enough to conceal the resurrection of a dragon!"

.

"No way!" Gajeel barked in alarm. "If he brings that creep back where we saw that freaky circle-!"

.

Lily's jaw dropped. "He'll be right in line with the capital to take his revenge for his military discharge!"

.

"If he attacks the capital, more than half of the resistance to the dragon's resurrection will be destroyed before they even have a chance to counter it!" Lucy raised in panic.

.

"My thoughts exactly…" Levy agreed. "We don't have a lot of time until that happens, so if you guys think I'm on the right track, I've gotta know. I've been studying Suri's journal for the past year. I'm not an expert, but if I have the time, I can read her version of Alra'Bekthian pretty fluently. If they really are hiding in the enchantment laid on the ground between here and the capital, I may be able to rewrite the conditions of the enchantment and allow Infinity Dragon to enter it and stop the resurrection before it happens."

.

"Don't be stupid!" Gajeel seethed impatiently. "Lev, if you go out there and start screwin' with their plans in the open like that, they're clearly gonna see you!"

.

"Don't be so sure, Screwball," Neirah assured him. "The way my mother's enchantments work is different than a normal concealment spell."

.

"It's true," Levy ascertained. "Reading in the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai, I learned that Suri was able to fuse her protection enchantments with the infinite power of Ryverika's magic. Not only does the enchantment conceal, but it separates the concealed rift in time and space. It's possible that he won't be able to see me until he steps out of the rift."

.

Thinking about the concept, Gajeel reached out and slugged Natsu towards the enchantment; dismayed when he ricocheted off the barrier. "Oh, right. You ain't with Infinity Dragon."

.

"Jerk! You knew that!" Natsu wailed, leaping back to slug Gajeel. The iron dragon toppled off balance and fell past the barrier, disappearing before their eyes. The act made Levy pump her fists excitedly with eager anticipation.

.

"Bingo!"

.

"Damn it, Gajeel! Get out here and fight me!"

.

From the border, all the guild members could see was a giant iron pillar sweeping blindly through the camp.

.

"Screwball! Watch where you're hitting!" Neirah scolded.

.

"My bad…"

.

"Do you honestly believe that you can rewrite the demon script in miss Suri's enchantments?" Arihana cooed as she watched Levy go to work.

.

"To be honest, it's not going to be easy…" Levy admitted humbly. "It's true that I always wanted to learn conditional enchantments, but I could do without the weight of the world on my shoulders for that."

.

Neirah reached out and laid her hand on Levy's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

.

Levy shook her head and smiled back at her warmly. "Not at this point, Shads. You just focus on getting better so that when I bust this thing open, you and your team are ready to fight!"

.

Neirah nodded appreciatively. "Thank you, Levy," she whispered knowingly. Her heart was noticeably heavy while confronting the script mage.

.

"It's what friends do…" Levy crooned meekly before turning back to her studies. "You wanna know what else they do?"

.

"Come home…?"

.

Levy looked back at Neirah and smeared a nervous teardrop from her eyes. "Yea…"

.

.

Laxus wished he could sever his own limbs, slice his own hands from his body. In fact, he'd lay both arms out on the block for Neirah's big brother to take from him in a heartbeat. They were nothing but a disaster attached to him.

.

It had happened so fast, the way a noble cause morphed into the most unforgivable of actions. He didn't even see it coming. There was no voice in his head, no warning that he was about to become the tool of his own team's demise. Just the overwhelming force of panic filling him when his feet stopped moving and his body was no longer his own.

.

And then he watched, senses stained with the visions of her suffering smile, the scent of sakura mingling with blood, the feeling of her pulse fading beneath rough fingertips. Now he knew what it was like to hold his delicate flower too tightly, her petals withered even though her colour still begged for the resuscitation of life's drink. The moment was brief, but it had completely extinguished his flame and left him cold.

.

The thing that frustrated him the most as he stared into empty, upturned palms, was the tears that started to dampen their surface. "Why am I still here…?" He forced empty pleas through painfully ground teeth, his jaw aching with the tension he ground down on in bearing. "After all I've done..." He raked his fingers through his hair and tightened his lingering grip in horror as the memories of his sins flashed through his desperately sealed gaze.

.

"Every time… Every time I try to get close to her… every time I try to protect the people I care about, I fucking screw it up…" He stared at the damp earth between his knees, eyes wide and wild with agonised frustration. "And every fucking time I fall… she's there… That same pitiful fucking smile shinin' back at me. Believing in me…"

.

"She's always there… right fucking there…" he whispered in pain. "It's her light that keeps pulling me outta the dark… when all it should do is let me disappear…"

.

"I have no right… no fucking right to love her like I do…" He sealed his eyes tight, trying to tell himself that it was the setting sun weakening them. "No fucking right…" He whimpered in heartache, his chest shuddering with the weight of sorrow washing over his painfully wracked body.

.

Lucy watched through the trees as hunched shoulders trembled with the tears raining upon the mossy ground at Laxus' feet. 'It's not fair,' she thought desperately. 'After all these years… they finally found each other and _this_ happens. It could destroy everything in a heartbeat… It all happened… so fast.'

.

She turned and looked over her shoulder into the camp where Neirah chatted with Natsu and Wavebreak, a weak laugh escaping her with her blind amusement. 'I can see right through them… Alone… they're two broken halves of the same whole.' She shook her teary gaze as she watched Neirah fake another smile, tell them she didn't hurt. 'When will this nightmare end? When is Neirah finally going to be free from this suffering?' Lucy whimpered vaguely. 'Is it really going to end with her life? Will she never get to live free of her past? After all this?'

.

She turned back to where Laxus had started to still, his self-pity morphing back into self-loathing. "Mira," she whined weakly. "What would you do…?"

.

* * *

.

Levy was working quietly on her own, papers strewn about the camp when she noticed that the smaller version of her Shadow was peering at her from behind a tree nearby. Surely she wasn't intimidated by the script mage. Levy caught her breath softly before adjusting her wind reader glasses and inviting the girl over. "Hey," she crooned in a friendly tone. "You wanna come sit by me?"

.

The small Neirah nodded her head before slowly slinking out from around the trees and taking a seat next to Levy in silent observance.

.

"W-how," Levy announced affectionately. "You look just like Shads when she was your age."

.

The small woman didn't look back at Levy when she replied. "Actually, I'm older than our master."

.

Levy paled, staring back at her in disbelief. "E-eh? But you're so small!"

.

Neirah looked back at Levy hollowly. "You're not much bigger."

.

Levy flinched before puffing out an exasperated sigh. "Touché…"

.

Neirah stared off into the woods, the fire at her and Levy's back crackling over the idle conversation of their joined parties. "I've… I've heard a lot about you," she whispered softly. "From the iron dragon…"

.

"Gajeel?" Levy tried to stifle her awkwardness and blushing. "Good things, I hope."

.

Neirah lowered her gaze and sighed. "He really cherishes you…"

.

Levy turned her surprised gaze back to the loli next to her, her heart racing with the girl's expulsion. What she couldn't understand, was why the little Neirah was telling her such things.

.

"You might have already guessed, but I wasn't born here in Earthland… From what I gather, it is something you are familiar with."

.

Levy nodded. "Fairy Tail has seen Edolas. It's where we found Pantherlily."

.

"Master Kairyn brought me here when he last visited Prince Jellal in Edolas... Master Kairyn, he was the Edolas counterpart of the Golden Dragon Divine, Ryverika…"

.

"Like Porlyusica was the Edolas counterpart of Grandeeney…"

.

"I suppose so," the girl continued. "He promised… one day after everything was finished that I would be sent home…"

.

Levy's heart ached as she watched a lonely pain rise in her company. She didn't have the heart to tell her that she was almost sure that it was impossible to travel freely between the dimensions any longer. "You must miss it… Home," Levy murmured in condolence. "You're so far away…"

.

A world away.

.

"To be honest, I didn't have much in the way of family in Edolas…" Neirah admitted bleakly, raising her wedding band to catch the light of the fire at their backs. "Just a husband…"

.

Levy's expression paled to see a wedding band wrapped around the small girl's finger.

.

"It wasn't supposed to take this long… I was supposed to be home already… But when Master Kairyn died to protect the Prince of Fairy Tail, the knowledge of the last remaining rift between worlds died with him…"

.

Levy clasped her hands to her mouth. "Your husband must be worried sick… I'm so sorry," she gasped out before lowering her hands to continue. "You must miss him so much…"

.

Neirah smiled up at her weakly, the point of her visit to Levy's side surfacing. "Actually, he's been with me this whole time… well… sort of…" She slowly turned and redirected Levy's attention to where Gajeel was in a brawl with Natsu. Levy's expression suffered an immediate drop. "He's a little rougher around the edges, but his heart is still the same…" Neirah turned and looked back up to Levy with an apologetic smile. "And that heart belongs to you…"

.

"Gajeel…" Levy whimpered out gently. "You're married to Gajeel's Edolas counterpart?"

.

"Surprised?" She muttered playfully. "I know I was when I met him and found out he'd adopted my Earthland self as a little sister. Especially when I myself am older than them." Neirah turned back to the script mage humbly. "Even if he wasn't mine, having him here really helped with my homesickness… I'm sorry if it's weird… but-"

.

Neirah gasped, her big glossy blue eyes widening as Levy threw her arms around the small woman. "When this is over, I promise that I'll help Shads find a way to send you home…" Levy whispered softly into the girl's shoulder.

.

Neirah's lips trembled as her tears started to fall without restraint. "Thank you…" She whimpered weakly, returning the woman's kind embrace. "Thank you," she repeated tenderly.

.

"Levy…" Levy pulled back to offered the girl her hand. "Levy McGarden," she cooed with a beaming grin.

.

Neirah threw herself on the kind woman with delighted tears in her eyes. "Sister-wife!"

.

Levy threw her hands up in defence, her cheeks crimson with embarrassment. "N-no Gajeel and I are not in that kind of relationship!" She stuttered out in alarm. "Shh! Levy needs quiet time now!"

.

* * *

.

Neirah sauntered weakly through the night, the chill of the damp maritime washing over her. Her one leg was favoured, her one arm cradled cautiously as she moved the brush from out of her path. She winced and guarded the arm she'd had crushed in battle from the backlash of the brush she sidestepped. But finally, she could see Laxus' broad and motionless figure lingering beneath the moonlit forest like a lifeless gargoyle.

.

She stopped for a moment and just observed him. She hadn't seen him since she was forced to purify him with infinite magic; a magic that, if she had made the slightest of mistakes, could have claimed his life. She humbled herself with the thought that maybe he was angry with her for taking his life in vain… again.

.

She sighed and wandered towards where he sat on a rocky ledge, arms resting on his knees as his hands interlocked tightly together. It was obvious that his tension amplified with her presence, but what she wanted to know was why.

.

"Looks like we're even now, Sparky," Neirah whispered tenderly. "I was forced to hunt you, you were forced to hunt me." The closest arm to reaching him was her injured hand, so with a gentle smile on her lips, she reached out to lay it on top of his. Before the comforting touch could fill her with warmth, though, he was retracting his hands from beneath her attempt and shrugging the denial off as an adjustment in his seat. She winced at the pain of having to quickly retract her fractured wrist, her humour fading.

.

She didn't give up in prying comfort from him as she gently leant against his arm, slowly drawing her lips to his. He remained painfully still as her whisper soft kiss touched his lips, and despite the fire it ignited inside him, he didn't reciprocate. Instead, he turned away entirely.

.

She looked back at him with heartbroken cerulean eyes glistening tearfully beneath the moon as she was crushed by his denial. He had turned almost completely away from her comfort, the ice in his rejection seeping from his skin to her heart. "Laxus…"

.

"You know, it's funny," he rumbled grimly. He stared out into the forest with his back towards her. "You almost got me the other night with all that 'fate' talk. About how that old lizard had… some sort of _plans_ for us. Like it was meant to be this way or some bullshit like that…" He closed his eyes, hoping that if he didn't open them again, his tears wouldn't fall. "If he really is a god, and I really am his left hand, I have done. _everything_. he's asked… I stood by you, I brought you back when you woke up in the ocean." Realising that his tears were going to fall whether he opened his eyes or not, he slowly lifted his gaze and narrowly peeked out over the terrain. "But every time I try to overstep and get just a little bit closer… everything falls apart…"

.

"Don't do this," she whispered bleakly. "Laxus, none of this was your fault."

.

"Then whose fault is it?" He challenged, tipping his slight gaze over his shoulder towards her. "Who's to blame? You? That stupid fucking lizard?"

.

Neirah's heart broke with the venom he poured into taking Ryverika's name in vain. "Ryverika may not be a god, but he's the reason I'm still sitting here next to you."

.

"Tsk, some fucking saviour," Laxus raged upon climbing from his seat. "You're right. He is the reason you're here; fighting for your fucking life against a corrupt group of psychopaths that want to see the world in ashes. _He_ had the power to end this before it started. _He_ sat there and fucking watched it happen. And then, _THEN_ he left it all on his adopted kid to try and clean up. Fucking good for nothing reptiles."

.

"Please stop…" She whimpered frailly, banishing a chill from her arms. "You don't mean that. You're hurt…" She slowly climbed to her feet and stepped towards him, a hopeful gleam in her teary eyes as she reached out to him. She managed to lay her fingertips on his arm, the sight of his tendons rising with his tension churning her stomach. "I can't justify Ryverika's decisions, but I need you to help me make mine." She looked back at him, desperate for one tender look, one tender touch; anything after what she had experienced. "Levy thinks she's figured out where Zade and Reku are hiding. We don't have much time before Reku is resurrected. Levy and the others are going to go and try to rewrite the enchantment concealing them while we stay back with Gajeel. With any luck, Zade will believe that you managed to take our lives and are stricken with grief. If we put up that front, we'll have the element of surprise on our side again…"

.

He bowed his head, his gaze wandering over the dew-dampened grass. "I'm in this 'til the end," he rumbled softly. He continued to deny her any sentiment to his statement. "My job is to keep you safe until you're free of these freaks… and if my idiot mistakes allow, that's what I'm gonna do."

.

"Laxus, you didn't make a mistake!" She defended more fervently. "You tried to do what you thought was right! You attempted something that none of us were brave enough to do!"

.

"And look where the fuck it got us!" He barked, whirling to face her now that anger had gotten the best of his devastated expression. "When Karua forced you to fuck with me, you fought him out! You held back! I didn't have anything, Neirah! If it wasn't for you, I would have killed you, your brother, whoever the fuck he wanted and I couldn't fight it in the slightest!"

.

"That's not true! Levy said-"

.

"Levy doesn't know shit!" Laxus roared. "I'm sick of pretending to see hope! I'm sick of pretending like there's a way this can work!"

.

"Don't," Neirah muttered weakly.

.

"I'm sick of thinking that I ever deserved to call you mine." He swung away. He could hear her heart shattering as the pieces spilt over her eyelids. He hated it, the harsh reality as he spoke the words. As he brooded silently on the same thoughts, they hurt, but he knew the words had to be said. Now that the words were coming, the reality was destroying him. "It's just not meant to happen for us…" He used his hand raking through his hair to cover the wiping of his tears upon passing. "It doesn't matter how bad I need you, the only time I wasn't hurting you was when I was wanting you from a distance. If that's what it takes to see you home safe and sound I'll fucking take the knife in my chest. I'm no fucking good for you and you're poison to me." He stared past his watering gaze and listened to her huff out frantic breaths, his stomach ready to heave with agony. "This dream… this fucking fairy tale… It isn't ours…" The worst of it all was the gentle scent of springtime washing over him from where she lingered at his back. "You really are a flower," he murmured bleakly. "And I can't hold you without crushing you. We were never meant to be… Neirah. If I've learned anything from fate in the last twenty-four hours, it's that it's tellin' me to walk away…"

.

He was so taken aback when she slithered through the shadows to appear in front of him that he didn't have time to avoid the merciless assault of her palm striking the side of his face. She had stricken him so hard that his gaze was forced to the side, his skin burning beneath her force. He stared blankly at the earth for a long moment before he was able to pick his gaping jaw back up and slowly turn to face where she drowned in her tears.

.

"You're pathetic," she hissed venomously. "How can somebody so strong on the outside, be so absolutely broken on the inside?"

.

He lowered his gaze, knowing full well he deserved every ache he harboured for causing her pain.

.

"Your worst enemy is by far yourself," she cautioned in a lethal whisper. "And if you walk away now, it's because you're too afraid of moving forward, not because fate was cruel. If you don't want to believe that there was a greater plan, then don't. I never did. My feet moved beneath me because somewhere in the night, there was a lonely boy out there who needed a friend. They moved because _I_ wanted them to. I don't believe that we were meant to be. We just happened. We happened because that's what we wanted. At least, I thought that was what you wanted." His heart stopped beating as she shook angry tears from her eyes. "If you're not man enough to love me through the good and bad, then walk away!" She challenged. "But don't you dare blame this on my father."

.

"Maybe you're right," he muttered drearily. "Maybe I can't handle it, holding wildfire in my arms…" He turned away from where Neirah's expression broke with the calling of her bluff. "I'm not like Natsu… I'm not fireproof… Every time I touch you, it burns. It hurts, because… I still can't be your hero…"

.

Neirah's expression was helpless as she clutched the chill on her arms and stepped towards him in the dark of night. She leant her forehead between his shoulders, begging for his affections, even if it was the last time he'd offer them. "Please hold me," she begged in a hoarse whisper. She was utterly exhausted from days passed. She was in crippling agony from the wounds he left her with. "Laxus, please… I'm so cold…"

.

Neirah didn't open her eyes as she felt him move away and settle his jacket over her shoulders; leaving without another word. Her knees started to tremble as she listened to his retreating footsteps returning to camp, and when she was sure he wasn't coming back, they buckled beneath her and saw her to the cold damp ground. She clutched the edges of his jacket tight to her breast before her tears began to overcome her as she started to sob helplessly to the still night around her.

.

"Please don't walk away…" She whimpered to the emptiness, clutching her aching gut as it rolled with despair. "Not again…"

.

* * *

.

Gajeel watched Laxus enter camp for the first time that night, absent their guild master. He started on high alert, but moments later, Neirah was returning in a teary-eyed mess beneath the warmth of Laxus' jacket. The iron dragon kept a weathered eye on the woman's tiny figure as she swept exhaustedly through the guild around them and right towards her brother.

.

Neirah walked straight into her brother's chest, her brow pressing tight against his sternum as she lingered at his front. She just stood there, waiting for someone's arms to come around her, waiting for someone to just hold her and tell her everything would be ok; like Laxus had once done.

.

Gajeel tipped his gaze to Laxus for a long and silent moment before he wrapped his arms around his little sister, and the moment he did, she immediately started weeping silently against his chest.

.

* * *

.

 _Gajeel's attention was drawn to the guild doors as Juvia stepped through them, shaking her head upon making eye contact with him. With an exasperated sigh, he climbed from his chair, dismissing Pantherlily's inquiry. "Don't wait around for me," he assured the feline sternly before starting out for Neirah's house._

 _._

 _He didn't even bother knocking but rather leapt onto the porch above her front door and shuffled towards her bedroom window. The setting sun illuminated her trembling figure beneath the sheets as she cried, forcing an impatient sigh from him as he slipped the window open. He knew that she had grown aware of his presence immediately when her snivelling ceased, the covers growing still as he closed the window behind him._

 _._

 _He moved to her bed and took a seat next to her, staring into the shadows of the setting sun distantly as he tried to gather his thoughts. "What're you cryin' about now?" He managed rather boldly._

 _._

 _"_ _I-I'm not crying… I'm sick," she defended bitterly. She was helpless to prevent sniffing back her tears deceitfully._

 _._

 _"_ _Don't give me that crap," he scolded softly. "Lovesick don't count."_

 _._

 _Neirah's brow knotted with the welling of pain inside her starting all over again, forcing her to sit up in bed and wrap her arms around her big brother. Gajeel sighed, remaining still as she started to cry against him. "I-I just don't know… why it hurts…" She whimpered gently, her grip on his shirt flexing with her frustration._

 _._

 _"_ _Thought you weren't into that arrogant, self-absorbed jerk… er… somethin' like that," he muttered distantly._

 _._

 _"_ _I lied…" Her whisper was a breathless wheeze as she curled up in his lap like she used to as a child. "I just... sometimes he's so… and then he always tried to… and he even remembered… when we met…" She shook her head bitterly. "Don't mind me… I just… don't know why I care…"_

 _._

 _"_ _You know…" He started his sentiment slowly, completely unfazed by the nude woman crying in his lap. "Sometimes carin' about someone can mean you just gotta let em' go." Neirah whimpered softly and tipped her teary gaze his way. "Like your mom and Ryverika."_

 _._

 _"_ _Are you insinuating that Sparky actually cares?" She teased quietly._

 _._

 _"_ _Just shut up and let me finish before I forget this! Took me the whole walk here to think of what to say and I ain't gonna let the headache go to waste!" He scolded fervently. "Remember when you were just a runt pickin' fights with guilds? And I told you I was walkin'?" Neirah's expression warmed as she smiled up at him knowingly. "You didn't let me, but even still- I'm just sayin' that I know what it feels like to feel like your draggin' someone down. Walkin' hurts, but sometimes you just gotta do it to help em' get stronger."_

 _._

 _She smiled and snuggled against him affectionately. "Do you mind… if I just wait until tomorrow to get stronger?"_

 _._

 _He snorted softly before responding. "Not if you don't mind puttin' on some damn clothes."_

 _._

 _"_ _Really?" She mewled sarcastically with a broken laugh._

 _._

 _"_ _Hey, I'm your brother, not blind."_

 _._

 _"_ _Sure thing, Screwball."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

"Don't give up on 'im…" Gajeel murmured gently against the top of her head. "He don't know any better…"

.

"I'm so sick… of hurting…" Neirah whispered through her heartache. She was beyond the point of caring that her brother realised that her heart had been given to the one person he'd tried to keep it from the most. "I just want to go home…"

.

"Soon, kid," Gajeel rumbled quietly while tightening his hold on his baby sister. "Want me to bust his head open?" He was relieved to hear a half-drowned snicker come from the weary infinite slayer against his chest.

.

"When this is over… I'll do it myself…"

.

"That's my girl…"

.

* * *

 _._

 _"I don't know why, but hearin' about her past really pisses me off... I hate knowing that she was suffering and no one did anything about it." Laxus sighed and dropped his gaze to his shaking fist, watching as it tried to grasp time itself. After a moment, he cast his weary gaze back to where a wounded Neirah smiled down at the sketchbook she'd always loved so much. "I guess the part that hurts the most is that I know she smiled through it like she's smilin' through this. Over the stupidest little things... like that old book or that ratty old cat. And when I stop to realise that she had nothing... it makes me want to give her everything..." He peeked over his shoulder to where Gajeel was lingering nearby, listening patiently for the conclusion of his sentiment. "She spent her whole life tryin' to find me... for a smile. Even if it's the last thing I want to do... How can you look down at hers and not give her one back?"_

 _._

 _Gajeel denied his gaze with a sly grin, a soft snort escaping with his amusement. "Better be careful," he warned cautiously while looking back towards his restless comrade. "Or people are gonna start thinkin' yer a nice guy." Gajeel smiled back at him softly for the first time in acceptance. "I always hoped the kid'd settle down with a nice guy..."_

 _._

* * *

 _._

Laxus watched Gajeel back away from Neirah's teary eyes and give them a playful wipe, the two sharing a meek laugh. Even if he was sure it was at his expense, as usual, it warmed him. It warmed him to the core. He had told her that he couldn't hold her anymore, but he never admitted that he could stop loving her…

.

* * *

.

 _Kairyn's crimson eyes disappeared behind his eyelids for what approached the last time. "It was Ryverika's will… The prince was to be protected… at all costs…"_

 _._

 _Laxus flexed his furious grip on Kairyn's shirt and grit his teeth with the force he used to restrain the deadly blow he was moments from offering a man that was already knocking on death's door. "Even at the cost of Neirah's life?!" He roared in devastation._

 _._

 _"_ _You should know… it was always you…" Kairyn forced out hoarsely. His gaze was too weak to see crimson eyes opened again. "She loved… you…"_

 _._

 _Laxus ground his teeth until he thought they'd break, tears burning the back of his eyes as he tried to process the emotions thrashing about inside him. He listened to the sounds of devastation around him, the sound of the wave's breaking against the cliff's beneath as they swallowed up the woman he loved, the sound of her brother roaring agony into the noonday sky as Levy shrieked her defiance._

 _._

 _Most deafeningly, he listened to his own heart break. Knowing that nothing could hurt more than losing the life he held so dear without ever telling her that hers was the reason that his had any meaning._

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _Sometimes, I just need to hear her take a breath… to know that mine's not wasted…_

 _._

* * *

 _._

 _Nothing but this…_


	13. Fate's Gift

_**Fate's Gift**_

* * *

.

.

"Alright," Levy crooned after shouldering her belongings. "Looks like it's now or never…"

.

Neirah slowly stepped forwards, handing Levy her mother's weathered journal. "Here," she whispered gently. "Keep this with you. I feel like it will be safer there."

.

Levy looked down at the Kho'Misika N'Ahrai with a furrowed brow. "Are you sure, Shads?"

.

Neirah nodded with a weak smile. "Consider it my promise to you." She raised her fretful gaze to the woman. "I _will_ come back for it…"

.

Levy was overwhelmed with the meaning behind the Infinity Dragon guild master's words and had to embrace her one last time before departing.

.

"We'll give you about a half'a day's head start…" Neirah whispered against Levy's neck, burying her nervous expression in the girl's bound cerulean locks. It helped that the women were so close in height. "That should take all the suspicion off you."

.

"It's ok Shads," Levy assured her. She pulled back from her embrace to connect their gazes. "I've got Natsu and Lucy with me. They'd have to be pretty foolish to try something on us."

.

Neirah smiled weakly with Levy's confidence as Damion stepped forward. "Damn right 'ey would," he assured the girls proudly. "I wasn't Kairyn's second for nothin'."

.

"We will be accompanying you in the shadows," Arihana agreed. She stood behind her fiancé with their guild master's small counterpart by her side. All three had their Infinity Dragon hoods raised over their heads and ready to disappear. "We are mere days from being free of this burden. Master Kairyn and Master Ryverika are hours from resting in peace." The thought almost brought a tear to the gentle woman's pale features.

.

"We all are," Damion assured upon drawing Arihana into his embrace. He dipped down and placed a gentle kiss on her silver roots.

.

"But what will you do then?" Lucy inquired softly. "Won't Infinity Dragon just dissolve…?"

.

The three turned wary and hopeful gazes to their guild master and in response, Neirah smiled genuinely. "They'll come to Fairy Tail with us…"

.

"Fairy Tail?" Lucy murmured in astonishment. "Seriously?"

.

Damion looked at the ground with a sheepish expression. "Well, yeh… maybe… if you guys'll have us…"

.

Natsu broke the dramatic silence before throwing his hand against the water slayer's shoulder in a stern pat. "Hell yeah!" He announced. "We could use a couple more dragon slayers around the guild if you ask me!"

.

Lucy laughed weakly. "Jeez, if this keeps up, we'll have to start calling the guild _Dragon_ Tail."

.

"Dragon's do have tails," Levy giggled enthusiastically.

.

"They do…" Neirah murmured gently. Even if Frost and Wavebreak had been second generation dragon slayers, they embodied the very might and nobility of the beasts themselves. She couldn't have been prouder.

.

"And don't forget about Neirah," Levy reminded while wrapping an arm around the little Edolas woman's shoulders. "We have to make sure she gets home safe and sound to her husband."

.

Neirah smiled up at Levy with an affectionate glow in her eyes.

.

Levy closed her eyelids over her kind expression before opening them to a determined, battle-hardened glare over an assured smile. "But first things first! Let's go rain hell on Zade's plans!"

.

"Right!" Little Neirah agreed enthusiastically.

.

Levy flinched when Gajeel dropped his palm heavily on her shoulder before forcing her to turn into his chest. For a long moment, he just rested his face on the top of her head and stared into the brush at her back.

.

"Uh… Gajeel?"

.

"Be careful out there, Shorty. Everythin' and their dogs gonna be after you guys," he muttered quietly. "Lily's gonna be right there if ya need 'im… If you get inta trouble-"

.

Levy smiled against his embrace, her cheeks colouring for his sentiment. "Don't worry about me," she enforced sternly. She tipped her head back and looked at him with a poised grin. "Just make sure that when I drop the enchantment, you guys are ready for what's on the other side!"

.

Gajeel watched her give an enthusiastic fist pump, and for a moment, he just marvelled at the brave little script mage in front of him. He was just as proud as his little sister. "Yea…"

.

Neirah watched as team Fairy Tail and team Infinity Dragon took two separate roads, both disappearing into the shadows around them. Her heart raced, knowing that their efforts very quickly approached a close. If Levy was right, and they really had discovered the resurrection site, it was possible that they could stop the calamity before it rose. But if she was wrong, if Zade had played them for the umpteenth time…

.

No.

.

She wouldn't believe in failure. Not when she was surrounded by the hopes and strengths of her friends. Reku's body was being constructed within Suri's concealment spell as they spoke, and she let the thought boil her blood with the eager call of vengeance. 'My mother protected these sites because they were special to her relationship with Ryverika,' she thought darkly. That Ghoul Knight and the other Austalian cultists would sabotage her mother's legacy infuriated her beyond words. 'And when the time comes… they. will. pay.'

.

Neirah slowly turned her gaze over her shoulder to look upon where Laxus had been sitting all morning. So far as she had seen, he hadn't spoken to anyone since they had last conversed the night before. It was tearing her insides apart.

.

She decided that she wasn't going to let the silence steal them. Even if they couldn't be lovers, there was nothing to say they couldn't go back to being friends; nothing but his stubborn attitude. For that reason, she approached him as a guild master.

.

"You've been quiet today," she started strongly. As confidently as ever, she loomed over where he sat nonchalantly at the foot of their guild. "You don't think the plan is going to work?"

.

He shrugged, so detached that she didn't even think he'd considered the success rate of their plans. "I find it hard to believe that she learned how to rewrite an ancient magic in one night."

.

Neirah's expression darkened with the insult he'd indirectly offered Levy. "Laxus, she stayed up all night studying that circle, and a year studying Alra'Bekthian written by my mother herself. If anyone can do it, it's her."

.

"Fine," he surrendered. "Then it's a _great_ plan."

.

Neirah ground her teeth with the need to strike him, but from recent experiences, she admitted that maybe that's what he wanted. "Get your head in the game, Sparky," she demanded impatiently. "When that wall drops-"

.

Laxus climbed to his feet and glared down at her tensely. "Then I'll rip apart whatever's on the other side like a good boy," he growled in low admittance. "Until then, I couldn't care less what goes on or how we get there. I'm the attack dog, remember?"

.

Neirah had the worst urge to drive her balled fist from her side up into his chin as he loomed over her forebodingly like his threat would make her crack, but he hadn't locked their gazes for long before he was leaving the clearing and entering the mountain with a detached scoff. His audacity since their falling out the night before had her nerves on fire, but not in a way that she would deem productive in their current situation. She turned and glanced over her shoulder at her brother who responded by nodding his head towards the irritable lightning wizard. Taking that as encouragement, she stormed after him.

.

All he'd done when he entered the guild was take a position like the one he'd had in the yard. He remained the same brooding mass lifelessly perched in the darkest corner of the guild. She huffed out a furious expulsion of breath, stopping her advance before she got in a close enough proximity to force the cornered beast to bare teeth. "Do you think hiding from this is going to make it hurt any less?"

.

"If I twisted your wrist, would you whine?"

.

Neirah ground her teeth down hard in her head. "Maybe it doesn't hurt," she seethed.

.

"Tsk, yeah right. You're not as good at lying as I am, Sweetheart," he growled. "You've been favouring it all morning."

.

"Do you just sit and watch every little thing I do?!" She demanded.

.

"I might…"

.

She hated how close she felt to him when they were fighting, she hated how comforting it was to her. The passion their arguments covered for was toxic and sucking her right back into his arms, or it would have if he had opened them for her. "Zade got you, ok?" She ordered. "But he was only retaliating because you got him first. We _outplayed_ him, Laxus. Someone who prides themselves on being the greatest tactical mind in the kingdom. _We_ outsmarted him. He's getting reckless. He'll screw up again, and when he does, we'll finally have our chance to strike back. Wallowing in self-pity is what he expects from you. It's your job as an Infinity Dragon wizard to be better than that."

.

"Well seeing as he pretty much made an animal out of me, I'd say just this conversation we're having makes me better than that."

.

Neirah retracted her claws into her palm and tried to remember why it was he'd fallen in love with the girl who'd stood up to his extreme attitude issues. It wasn't because she was strong or snarky, it was because she cared enough to notice the pain that he was hiding behind the conceit.

.

She dropped her head, her gaze softening with sincerity. "You're not an animal," she whispered kindly. She refused to make eye contact with his sharp gaze as it shifted sceptically in her peripherals. "He played you… found your weakness and exploited it. That's all he did. It didn't have anything to do with you."

.

She got brave, raising her gaze to his again and hoping the venom had bled dry of it. "The darkness you see inside you is only as deep as you allow it to be… When Damion and Arihana heard about your dragon force, they weren't avoiding you for fear of your state of mind. They finally respected you as Kairyn's equal." She smiled softly. "Laxus, your power rivals that of some of the ten wizard saints. I don't care what anyone says, that's an amazing accomplishment. It isn't that you can't control it, but you only use that power when you're already blinded by the emotions that push humans to their breaking point. You've just associated your greatest strength with your greatest weakness and grown to fear them like they're related."

.

He scoffed and turned away from her, dismissing her logic bitterly as he struggled to refute it.

.

She smiled sadly in consideration. "You're a real pain, you know that?" Her croon was affectionate as she met his dim side-glance that shifted her way. "I told you that you wouldn't be alone in this fight…"

.

"I'm not sacrificing my humanity to beat this guy…"

.

Neirah softly shook her head. "You're the only one who sees it as a sacrifice of humanity," she whispered. She slowly turned and approached the exit of their guild, a kind smile on her lips. "Even after the first time you gave into circumstance and became that beast you're so afraid of, the hands that held me that night were still gentle." She looked out into the world beyond the rift they lingered in. "And I have no doubt that after this, the next person they hold will make the same claim."

.

Laxus watched her exit, so much certainty in her assumptions that he wanted to be sick. His fingers ached with bitter tension; ached to reach out to her, ached to thrash about in fury and frustration, ached to find a way to hold her scent between trembling fingers and clutch it to his chest. He hated how unintentionally used he'd felt. She constantly brought up the presence of others in his life, before her, after her. He hated how sure she was that anyone came before her, hated how little she thought of him.

.

Hated that she thought anyone could replace the emptiness he felt when she walked away.

.

Every time she made such an assumption, he wanted to strain to be better than he was, but better for her. He always had something to prove. She was still his light, his world, and without her, he was afraid his lungs would collapse with the suffocating lack of her presence in every breath.

.

The darkness began to swirl again, threatening to deliver him to the quiet oblivion he'd been lost in before she'd given him a healthy dose of reality. All he'd wanted was her small hand to reach into the pit in which he'd fallen and whisper comfort into his soul.

.

 _Everything would be alright…_

 _._

And he'd follow her light home.

.

He hated how she inspired him when all he wanted to do was sulk solitarily in the shadows. She always made him feel stronger, better, brighter. He heaved a submissive sigh and climbed to his feet, an old dog on her heels as he sauntered lazily after her. "Damn it, woman… Why can't you just let me sulk in peace…"

.

* * *

.

Gajeel tapped his boot eagerly against the ground as he watched the sun rise high overhead. "Damn, all this waitin' around is killin' me," he growled. "I hate havin' ta sit back while Natsu's out there havin' all the fun."

.

"There is nothing fun about this," Neirah quipped back sternly. "You were there when the dragons came through the Eclipse Gate. Kairyn was the only one who was able to do one any harm. Now he's gone, and we don't have the option to send Reku backwards or forwards in time. If he is successfully brought into this world as a dragon, it's going to take everything we have to push him back."

.

Neirah's attention was drawn to the sudden hitch in Laxus' breath behind her, his sudden startle forcing her wary. "Laxus? Are you ok?"

.

He shot his gaze back to hers, instantly masking the discomfort in it. "Yeah, just anxious, I guess." He spoke the words, but he wasn't quite sure he could escape the feeling that they were being watched. 'Talk about paranoid,' he thought uncomfortably.

.

Neirah sighed, trying to banish the butterflies that rose inside her with Laxus' uncertainty. "I suppose we _have_ been sitting here letting the tension build for long enough. Levy and the others should have made it far enough ahead that we can start tailing them." She started to exit the clearing, raising her hood over her crown as they turned their back on their guild and prepared for the stressful journey ahead. "Let's get to work, boys."

.

Laxus and Gajeel were quick to heel to their master, both just as eager to unleash their pent discomfort on the enemy as she was to bring an end to their injustice. "Any objections to me playin' lumberjack for the next mile or so?" Gajeel grumbled keenly. "If I don't hit somethin' soon, I'm gonna lose it…"

.

"The point of us waiting so long to follow the others is to be stealthy," Neirah informed him coarsely. "I think a bunch of iron and lightning is going to be a little conspicuous."

.

"The tin-man doesn't talk for me," Laxus bit back in defence. "I'm fine just feelin' the ground moving beneath me for a while, so long as it's forwards." He swung his gaze over his shoulder, watching the mountains at his back shrinking into the distance. 'Fuck, this feeling…'

.

"Just relax, you two," Neirah encouraged supportively. "Watch, we'll get there and Natsu will have already stopped the revival."

.

"He better not've!" Gajeel barked feverishly, steam rolling out of his nostrils with his disapproving snort. "I didn't chase these bastards all over no man's land just for him to steal my glory!"

.

"Gajeel, there's nothing glorious about this!" Neirah snapped back intolerantly. "Hundreds of innocent people lost their lives for this!"

.

"Oh…"

.

"OH?!" Neirah threw her arms down to her sides, wailing her venomous reply to the iron dragon with zero tolerance in her tone. "DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME THAT NATSU SHOWED UP AND YOU JUST FORGOT ABOUT THE GRAVITY OF THE SITUATION!"

.

"My bad…"

.

Neirah snarled under her breath. "I swear I'm gonna-"

.

"Neirah…"

.

The feverish infinite slayer slowly shifted her gaze to where Laxus was staring over her shoulder with a look of defeat in his pale expression. Her heart immediately sank. "What's behind me…?" She whispered. She was afraid to turn with the fear of such a cliché experience befalling her.

.

Laxus slowly shook his head. "Looks like phase one of the plan backfired…"

.

Neirah whirled around to see a thought projection of an incapacitated Levy held up by her hair in the hand of a casually triumphant Ghoul Knight; Zade's superior gaze piercing as he held her out for Neirah to see.

.

"LEVY!" Gajeel roared his wrath, charging the projection like he thought he could reclaim her. "You bastard!" He leapt for the girl only to tumble right through her wounded image, grasping frantically for her presence on the other side of the shade.

.

"You must have thought that this was incredibly clever, didn't you?" Zade crooned proudly as he dropped the young girl's fading image from his projection. "Another unexpected twist in our little game. I found this trying to undo Suri's enchantment. I didn't think for a second that there could be someone out there as fluent in the Language of Demons as Reku."

.

"Levy…" Neirah whined through her teeth. She flinched when the entire ground started to tremor beneath their feet, the torn wings on an undead beast approaching through the foliage.

.

"No way," Gajeel breathed out apprehensively. "There's no way that he coulda turned all that power around in less than a day!"

.

"Right you are," Zade mused. He took a single step backwards without looking, the claws of his wyvern friend raising his image between its shoulders. "But with your little friends out of the way, all I have to do is buy time until Reku's rebirth is complete. You're all that stand in my way."

.

Gajeel winced as the dragon before them gave a ghastly screech of warning. "Levy…" He balled his fist and leapt to his feet with unforgivingly violent tears of rage in the corners of his eyes. "You sorry son-of-a-"

.

"Relax."

.

Gajeel whirled his vehement expression towards where Laxus had his arms folded casually over his chest, his smug, downcast gaze unaffected by their circumstance. He slowly raised his look of challenge to their puppeteer. "She's fine."

.

"What…?" Gajeel hissed out hopefully.

.

"How can you be sure…?" Neirah added whilst taking her mind down the routes she thought Laxus might've.

.

"He's bluffing."

.

"I don't bluff…" Zade murmured. He was utterly insulted by the challenge the lightning dragon offered. "You of all people should know-"

.

"You're gettin' sloppy, old man."

.

Zade's hiss between his teeth was barely audible behind the crack in his jaw.

.

"Your first mistake was tellin' us you found her at the circle. There's no way she's made it there yet."

.

"Your insolence aside, she came by way of flying cat."

.

Neirah's brow furrowed thoughtfully before she realised what was happening. "He's metagaming," she murmured in conclusion.

.

"Exactly…" Laxus assured them. "Just like how you followed me around to find out when I was out of the guild's protection. You were listening to our plans at camp, but because you still don't have a body, there wasn't shit you could do about it."

.

Neirah's eyes widened as she watched a perspiration break Zade's flesh.

.

"I get the feeling that you don't like bein' wrong," Laxus snarled abrasively upon taking Neirah's side with confidence. "Worried that our little resistance is gonna mess with your _brilliant_ scheme?"

.

Neirah took a retreating step to avoid the advance of Zade's beast. "Yeah, maybe let's not tick off the guy with the dragon."

.

"It ain't a dragon," Gajeel growled. "It's just a rat…"

.

"A rat that still needs to be beaten," Laxus assured him during their regroup. His gaze narrowed wrathfully at the man between its wings. "But when I finish gutting it, there's nothing stopping me from breakin' up your little fucking welcome back party and payin' you back for your little stunt the other night…"

.

"Laxus, be careful!" Neirah warned. "If Zade knows about Levy and the other's, there's a good chance that Reku already knows. If that's true, there might be an ambush already set up to meet them."

.

"I can assure you, no such ambush awaits our friends when they arrive at the circle in question."

.

Laxus' ears perked, his gaze swinging over his shoulder as the sun at their backs illuminated three most unexpected presences. "Freed…?"

.

Freed smiled confidently back at the dragons before him. "It's been a while."

.

Bickslow burst into hysterics in a tree nearby. "Wah hah! Betch'ya didn't see that one comin'!"

.

"Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen?" Neirah gently shook her head. "Wait… how do you know about the circle?"

.

"About a week ago, Fairy Tail received an unexpected visitor from the port of Lysar that inspired us to join you in the area," Freed informed them. The thought made Neirah's heart race with thoughts of Joko and his granddaughter making their way to safety. "We were encouraged to investigate a strange presence emanating from the mountains at our backs when Bickslow caught sight of a lost soul lurking nearby."

.

"It didn't take us long to figure out it was with Ghoul Knight, so naturally, we kept a close eye on him," Evergreen purred triumphantly. "That is how we know that Levy and the others are safe. Zade hasn't once left this forest."

.

Zade's blood boiled as Bickslow offered his luminescent jade gaze his way, the man's Fairy Tail crest hanging out of his mouth mockingly. "Sucker!"

.

"Now then," Freed interrupted. "Let me make myself clear. If it's Laxus you're after, you'll have to go through us first."

.

"You guys," Laxus growled. At that point, he was unsure of whether he wanted to embrace them or knock all their heads together for thinking so rashly.

.

Neirah's expression was grim as she stared at the ground by her feet, her heart thundering in panic in her ears. "Go," she ordered the wizards around her. "All of you! Get to Levy and the others as fast as you can!"

.

"What? Why?" Gajeel stumbled out weakly. "We just called 'is bluff?"

.

Neirah threw her cloak over her shoulders and charged Zade's mellowing figure. "Even if Zade's spirit has manifested in front of us, he is still using his magic to convey his messages!" Neirah leapt into the air, her arms launching across her body as she cast her spell and golden wings sprang from between her shoulders.

.

Freed flinched with the swell of his embarrassment. "So, it's possible that Zade has already sent a similar projection to the circle to warn the other's working for his cause…"

.

"Ehn, that's not good," Bickslow proclaimed before leaping from the tree.

.

"He plays us even when we think we're playin' him…" Gajeel snarled.

.

"We don't have time to play games with Zade's creations!" Neirah thundered. "The rest of you leave and get to the circle as quickly as you can! The less of you I have to worry about while I'm fighting the better!"

.

"Rude!" Evergreen hissed, turning her defiant gaze away. "In case she didn't realise, we're here to help!"

.

"I'm not pulling punches with your pests," Neirah sneered. Even though her demeanour was confident, perspiration unexpectedly beaded on her brow as she gathered her magical energy. Her once brilliant blue gaze ignited in golden flame as her pupils narrowed to slits. "Gale-force sky song!" She demanded, throwing her arms out to the sides. The remaining wizards beneath her were forced to cover their eyes to keep from being blinded by the sudden burst of dust and debris the cyclones raised. "Go!" She repeated authoritatively.

.

Gajeel was torn between the two people he cared for most in the world. He watched Neirah sail into combat, her teeth ground in forced concentration as she neared the wailing beast Zade had dropped into their midst. Zade may have been an illusion, but the beast was a very real threat.

.

Soon, Neirah's body had dotted with brightly coloured steel scales reflecting the breaks of sunlight through her storm like diamonds. "Tornado drill!" She wailed, crashing into the beast with a defiant cry of fortitude.

.

Gajeel flinched when her attack was brushed off, her usually swift reaction to recoiling stunted as she was batted through the sky like a fly by the ungainly creature. "Shads!" He called over the raging winds.

.

"For the love of- Laxus, get him out of here!" Neirah screeched, bursting back through the forestry on golden wings of infinite magic.

.

Laxus meditated on her command for a moment that he remained equally as torn as the man she demanded he take command of.

.

Gajeel flinched uncertainly, watching another of her usually devastating blows glance off the creature to Zade's confident laughter. "Somethin' ain't right… The kids laggin' hardcore."

.

"She doesn't seem to be fairing too well, even with her iron and sky combination attacks," Freed muttered uncertainly. "Laxus, what should we do…?"

.

Neirah drew back her arms, her scales bright as ever as she gathered the cyclones from the sky around her in a summoning of magical energy. "Right hand of the heavenly body! Infinity's divine sky blade!"

.

There was a shrill squeak cutting the howl of wind as Neirah's invisible blade crashed into the monstrous beast. Soon after, Zade's triumphant laughter was following. "Is this it!?" He roared. "Tell me this isn't the menial power I have wasted years of my devotion for!"

.

Neirah ground her teeth in bearing, her fury fueling her adrenaline to power off the earth with his mocking.

.

Laxus' body tightened apprehensively, watching as Neirah was struck down again, swatted out of Zade's path; again and again.

.

"Laxus!" Neirah roared. "I will _not_ ask you again!"

.

"No way…" Gajeel sneered. His own body coated in dark steel scales similar to that of his little sisters. "Boss or not, I ain't fucking leaving you behind!"

.

Gajeel was moments from lurching into battle when Laxus threw his arm out across the iron dragon's chest to halt him with one solid, mechanical swipe. "You are if she says you are," Laxus barked in warning.

.

"Are you fucking blind!?" Gajeel fumed. "The kids getting ripped apart out there!" He tried to stifle his agonised winces when Neirah's exhausted cries met their ears. "Somethin' ain't right with her! Last time this happened I lost her for a week!"

.

"D'you wanna sit here and argue with me or go help Levy?!" Laxus seethed, knocking brows with the rambunctious iron dragon slayer. "When Neirah's busy, _I'm_ the one in charge and _I'm_ telling you to calm the fuck down and go after the others! If that dragon comes back from the grave, it's gonna make this one look like the rat it is!"

.

Gajeel didn't back down as he pressed back against Laxus' order. "That's my fucking kid sister up there and if you don't get the hell out of my way I swear I'll bury you with this thing…"

.

"How did this guild hold it together for so long?" Evergreen whispered in alarm. "They're at each other's throats…"

.

"Well we are not Infinity Dragon members," Freed announced. "If nothing else, we can go after-"

.

"Look out!" Evergreen screeched.

.

Freed narrowly leapt back and dodged the fall of the creature's monstrous paw. "Dark Écriture: Wings!" He took flight above the dust rising with the creature's attack. "Hurry!" He encouraged the remaining members of the Thunder Legion to take their mark. "If nothing else, we can be the defence Levy's team needs to succeed!"

.

"Not if I can help it…" Zade snarled. "Organic destruction, breath of plague!"

.

Freed's gaze widened in alarm as he watched the undead beast open its mouth to spew the same toxin that had destroyed Lysar.

.

Panic-stricken, Laxus released his gaze on Gajeel in order to demand a retreat from his comrades. "Idiots! Get the hell out of there!"

.

Neirah burst forward in a beam of light and barrelled Freed to the ground with unrelenting force. She turned to face the incoming waves of plague with the violet scales of the poison dragon appearing to up her resistance to the approaching storm as she vanquished it. "Laxus!"

.

He hated how desperate she sounded for him to execute her command.

.

Neirah gathered her reserve to push back against the strike, her hands trembling as she focused on isolating her casting. "Infinite dragon secret art!" She bellowed, hurling her concentrated golden waves towards the creature's plague. "Divine purge! Infinite light of retribution!"

.

The power of her spell was blinding as it collided with the miasma and banished the particles in a brilliant burst of light, but in releasing the glow's smokescreen effect, she gave Zade the chance to shrink his rat down to size before expanding it monstrously all over.

.

"Such a meek concentrated force," Zade mocked. "I had higher hopes for our last Austalian. If that is all the power infinity holds it's not a wonder your own pet survived his cleansing."

.

Neirah panted weakly in the air, her arms trembling as they returned to normal. 'I don't understand what's happening,' she thought weakly as her vision dimmed with her exhaustion. 'I can't seem to maintain a steady flow of magical energy against him… It's like I'm back to having my reserve tapped by the radiation Porlyusica removed a year ago.'

.

Laxus quietly observed as Neirah continued to struggle, his heart in pieces. He knew her brother was right, she _was_ lagging. She was having a harder time keeping up with Zade's pestilence than usual. At first, he thought it might have been because he had injured her more gravely than she had let on the night before, but it no longer seemed to be the case. Even so, he was her second in command; her will, his hands.

.

His gaze darkened as he bowed his head, his arms lighting up the devastated forest around them. "You have about ten seconds to shut up and do what you're fucking told before this fight goes three ways…" Laxus rumbled his command vehemently, ignoring the flicker of hesitation in Gajeel's gaze. He shot his luminescent gaze towards his defiant team member. "One."

.

Bickslow watched the battle ensue closely, incredibly closely. His gaze narrowed behind his helmet as he watched Neirah's stricken figure plummet to the earth once more. As he watched her rise, he slowly pulled the helmet from his head and let his gaze linger. 'It can't be…'

.

Bickslow's neon gaze widened in terror before he was running through the forest's debris towards the crazy little girl he'd feared since the day he'd met her. "Baryon formation, babies!" He commanded, leaping into the treetops alongside the shift in his totem dolls as they responded. The blast rocketed towards the creature preparing its strike, causing it to wail in agony as its jaws were thrown off the main course.

.

"Bickslow!" Freed yelled in alarm. He watched in horror as Bickslow's parkour put him within striking distance of their enemy.

.

"What the hell?!" Gajeel demanded impatiently. "That one attack did more damage than Shadow's combination magic?!"

.

Laxus' expression faltered in disbelief as Bickslow used the leverage of his dolls to climb his way to Neirah's side before he was leaping into her and defending her from the crash of the dragon's claws on a direct path to collision. "Laxus, we gotta get her outta here!" Bickslow called upon striking the earth. He narrowly turned to see the dragon's claws powering towards him.

.

"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!" Evergreen ordered, her brilliant darts diverting the dragon's attack.

.

"Go Bickslow!" Freed demanded as he took flight next to Evergreen.

.

Bickslow ground his teeth and looked down to where Neirah had fallen unconscious in his arms. "Crap," he murmured vaguely. He took a quiet moment to let his gaze solidly scan the wounded woman.

.

Laxus took to Bickslow's side, Gajeel close on his heels.

.

"What the hell was that all about?!" Gajeel demanded frantically.

.

Bickslow raised and offered the woman in his arms to Laxus. "You gotta get her to Porlyusica, pronto," he encouraged.

.

"Are you kidding me?! She's halfway across the damn-"

.

"She's not," Bickslow encouraged as he listened to Freed and Evergreen try to hold off the beast at their backs. "She followed up on the crap that happened at Lysar and stuck around in the area just in case we needed the old girl." Bickslow flinched with the earth-shattering roar of their enemy. "Trust me! She's needed!"

.

Laxus stared back at Bickslow hesitantly. He had never seen the man act so defensively over Neirah, of all people. Ever since Neirah had kidnapped Bickslow for a 'date' just to get under Laxus' skin, Bickslow had always avoided her like the plague they battled.

.

"I can take her." Gajeel stepped towards where Laxus absently cradled Neirah in his arms.

.

"Both of you go!" Freed hollered from the near sky. "We can take care of this on our own! Get Neirah to safety."

.

"You guys…" Laxus murmured softly.

.

Freed's gaze softened as he stared back at his friend. "Neirah gave all she had to defend us from when Tartaros attacked. It's thanks to her we all survived. We're just returning the favour."

.

"I know she's a freaky little spaz, but she's crazy about you," Bickslow assured Laxus confidently. He leapt backwards in trust to a line of totem dolls, his hands crossing his chest.

.

"Crazy~!"

.

"Crazy for Laxus~!" They purred supportively.

.

"Take Neirah to Porlyusica and we'll meet you there!" Evergreen assured him with a warm smile. "It's important that she gets help. If Reku is resurrected, the infinite dragon slayer will be our only line of defence."

.

"It's time we start believing in Neirah like you do," Freed added tenderly. "It would be our honour to fight for infinity."

.

Bickslow gave a wicked laugh as he sailed through the air. "Man, we're all screwed," he crooned eccentrically. His laughter seemed misplaced. "It was nice knowin' ya buddy!"

.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean…" Gajeel growled impatiently.

.

Laxus narrowed his gaze on his dearest friends as they took to the skies to battle Zade's creation, his stomach churning with Bickslow's sudden concern for the woman in his arms. He tipped his gaze to observe her desperate features, her breathing laboured with fatigue and brow knotted uncomfortably. "We can ask them later…" Laxus ordered. "Right now, we have to take her to Lysar… She's burnin' up…"

.

* * *

.

"Are we there yet?" Happy began to waver in his flight pattern. "It's getting dark out…"

.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Pantherlily reasoned. "It simply provides better cover as we near our destination.

.

"It's true…" Levy murmured softly upon checking her map. "Anytime now, we're going to lose the forest as cover, then it's only a couple of miles left until where Gajeel and I found the circle. We should probably camp out here until the sun comes up, though. I'm not going to be able to get much work done in the dark."

.

"I don't like the stink of this place," Natsu murmured uneasily. "Everythin' smells like death…"

.

"That's not good…" Lucy whined gently. "Last time you said that Karua wasn't far away…"

.

"Yea…" Natsu growled darkly with a tightening fist. "You guys can get some rest and I'll take first watch. I don't think it's a real great idea for all of us to be out at once."

.

"I'll stay up as well," Pantherlily suggested as he landed firmly on the ground. "I'm too wound to sleep anyway."

.

"But you guys really should," Levy reasoned sternly. "If we do run into problems, you're our best defence."

.

"It's true," Lucy agreed. "You guys should get some sleep while I keep a lookout."

.

"I'm going to stay up too," Levy added supportively. "I still feel like I'm cramming for an exam and could be more confident in my charge." She smiled with a stifled giggle. "Leave it to the girls, guys. We'll let you know if anything bad comes a-knockin'."

.

"Right," Pantherlily reluctantly came to accept.

.

"Whatever you say…" Natsu groaned lightly, laying his head down on the bare ground. "Come on Happy, let's catch some Z's."

.

"Aye, sir…"

.

* * *

.

The sun had been set for at least an hour when Laxus and Gajeel finally made it to the port of Lysar, or what was left of it, at least. Gajeel was moments from asking where they should start looking for Fairy Tail's medical aid, but that was before a white tent captured his gaze over the horizon by the crackle of a small fire's light. "You think it's ours?" Gajeel rumbled sceptically.

.

"Tsk, do _you_ normally camp out by the rotted remains of old towns?" Laxus condescended before stepping towards the camp.

.

"Oi! I'm just being cautious! We've been screwed over by this shit before!"

.

"Not this time…" Laxus assured him sternly. He shifted his gaze to where Neirah still had yet to stir. He couldn't help but feel guilty for leaving the Thunder Legion behind, but Bickslow's raise in alarm startled him to the core. It was possible that some of the miasma she tried to defuse was ailing her, but he couldn't see the poison festering. But he trusted them. He'd trust the three of them with his own life; with the life of the woman he loved.

.

Sensing the disturbance outside, Porlyusica made her way to the entrance of her tent. "Now, what could we have here?" She murmured softly to herself.

.

Laxus stood silently before the woman who came out to meet them, her fingers dancing over Neirah's wounded skin.

.

"What a terrible mess," Porlyusica muttered grimly. She reached out to swat both the men without restraint in her weathered old hands. "And where are your scratches, hmn?!" She demanded in outrage. She glared at their sheepish expressions before throwing her arm out towards the tent. "Silence. I see the child has trained you well," she encouraged. "Take her inside, quickly."

.

She scooted quickly after them before banishing Gajeel from the tent entirely. "I see you've come back three short. Will the others follow?"

.

Laxus gave her a stern nod as he laid Neirah down on the cot set up in the medical supply tent.

.

"A scapegoat. I see…" Porlyusica murmured as she knelt beside Neirah's weak figure. "Well then, let's see what ails her." She hummed her words softly to herself before she went to work. After a moment of silence, she turned her sharp gaze to a startled Laxus. "Do you have something to say?" She encouraged abrasively.

.

"Uh- no ma'am," he rumbled softly. His response caused an especially impressed expression from the dedicated healer.

.

"She's done an exceptionally good job with you," the old woman mused impishly. "I didn't think it was possible to groom so much of that Dreyar attitude out of you in such a short amount of time." She smiled while recalling Laxus in his youth before she turned back to the woman laid out before her and let her expression fade dismally. "But if you don't mind, your bulky presence takes up more room than I care to spare."

.

Laxus shifted his gaze reluctantly over Neirah, a gentleness overcoming him in his moment of unrestrained worry.

.

"Be at ease, child," she tenderly encouraged. Her gaze may have been stern, but it reassured his concerns. "It's just a little fever… She'll be right as rain with some rest."

.

Laxus looked at her hopefully before gently nodding his head and backing out of the tent. 'Then why did it cripple her so bad against Zade…?' He thought bleakly.

.

* * *

.

Freed recoiled on his wounds, his shoulder in serious need of relocation. "To think that Zade can summon these creatures at will… simply by finding a modest beast in the forest and manipulating them…"

.

"You ok, buddy?" Bickslow fretted before giving Freed a shoulder to lean on.

.

Freed shuffled away as the treeline broke for Lysar. "It's fine, really," he fibbed. "I wouldn't dare show such grievances to Laxus. You know how he'll lecture us for our reckless behaviour."

.

"It almost makes that puppet dragon look merciful," Evergreen whined.

.

Bickslow offered his companions a goofy smile as he turned to look towards Porlyusica's camp where Laxus and Gajeel lingered silently by the meek fire. "Nah… he's got bigger problems," he mused wickedly.

.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Freed encouraged. His brow furrowed with his bemusement.

.

"Yeah, and what problems could he possibly have that were bigger than a dragon? You never told us why you jumped in to rescue Neirah like that?" Evergreen interrogated sternly. "I thought you were still terrified of her?"

.

"Yeah, it's true the kid freaks me out," he admitted uncharacteristically soft while he stepped ahead of their faction. "But I didn't do it so much for her…"

.

Freed flinched nervously as Evergreen steamed alongside him. "That only makes things more confusing!" Evergreen wailed before flailing her arms as Bickslow left them behind.

.

Freed watched cautiously as Bickslow invited himself into Neirah's tent without heeding Laxus and Gajeel's warnings about Porlyusica's irritability. 'What could he possibly know that we don't…?'

.

* * *

.

A while passed where Bickslow remained by Neirah's side, obviously in an important conversation with Porlyusica. It could be the only reason Bickslow ever spent so much time so close to Neirah. Laxus turned his expectant gaze to where Porlyusica exited the tent with Bickslow by her side, a worried look on her worn features. He quickly climbed to his feet, Neirah's brother no slower on the draw.

.

"Is she alright?" Gajeel ordered desperately. "What'd that freak do to my kid sister?"

.

"Ask him yourself," Porlyusica chided impatiently. Her eyes sealed and nose upturned. "He's standing right beside you."

.

Gajeel tipped his gaze to his left, glaring at Freed suspiciously.

.

"Me?!" Freed demanded. "But I've only just arrived!"

.

"Your other side, moron," Bickslow chimed. He dropped his hand sternly against Laxus' shoulder upon passing him with an amused snicker.

.

Laxus stilled, his heart aching with how swiftly it beat against his chest. He could feel the iron dragon's deadly stare as it pierced him.

.

"You. _didn't_ ," Gajeel growled.

.

"Didn't what?" Freed pried desperately for answers. "What is wrong with Neirah?"

.

"Absolutely nothing," Porlyusica assured them. "She is just exhausted with the adjustments her body requires right now."

.

"You mean with her magic…?" Evergreen whimpered in confusion.

.

Porlyusica's gaze cut sternly to the wizards around her. "Not quite," she narrowed her gaze on Laxus. She truly showed his guilty expression no mercy. "She is with child."

.

Laxus could feel the pressure of their camp change with Porlyusica's words, but he had grown so numb to reality that he didn't have a single defence to offer himself.

.

"Bickslow has a very special talent," Porlyusica reasoned. "It was using this talent that he discovered that Neirah was not the only soul combating your enemies."

.

"You-son-of-a-!"

.

Before Gajeel could grab a hold of Laxus, Porlyusica was raking the lightning wizard forwards by his shirt and bopping him on the head with the pommel of her fist. "Don't think that I don't know exactly who's responsible either!" She reprimanded. "Infinity Dragon consists of an engaged couple, a married child, her brother and his pet! I know exactly where to point my finger!"

.

Laxus caught his breath as she shoved him towards the tent. "You go to her right this instant and pray that she shows you mercy!" Porlyusica rocked from side to side in a fuming display that saw even the wrathful iron dragon silenced. "AND THE NEXT TIME I CATCH YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF AN INNOCENT CHILD LIKE THIS I'LL BEAT YOU SENSELESS!"

.

"Yes, ma'am…" Laxus staggered out weakly. He narrowly escaped her rampage as she turned it towards their remaining company.

.

"And if any of you so much as breathe a word of this to someone who might gab it to Master Makarov I'll cut out your tongues!"

.

"Y-yes ma'am!" Breathed the antsy crowd.

.

* * *

.

Laxus turned and looked over his shoulder down to where Neirah was curled over on her cot, her gentle gaze staring vacantly into Porlyusica's shelf of medical supplies like it was interesting. His breathing was heavy but silent as he lingered in the entrance of the tent, his mind racing with hesitation. He didn't know what to expect; anger, sadness… Would it be possible that she could offer him something like joy?

.

He seriously doubted it…

.

He forced a hard swallow down his scratchy throat, subtly working it free of the hoarse rasp he knew would present itself with hours of silence. "Neirah…?"

.

His world shifted when her glassy gaze looked back at him helplessly, and she smiled. "I guess you heard the news, hm Sparky?" His gaze didn't shift as he unsteadily nodded his head. Her gaze faltered over her smile as she cast it downwards. "I tried to tell her she was mistaken… but I guess… Bickslow could see… could- I'm sorry…"

.

He took a step towards her, still unsure of what to say or do. "Damn it, what the hell are you apologising for now?" He murmured in quiet concern. "I thought for sure when Cana was-" He dropped down beside her and raked his fingers through his hair. "Damn, I fucked up. I fucked up bad…"

e dropped down He

.

He stilled when Neirah reached out and took his hand between both of hers, clutching it against the sheets as she sat up and smiled back at him through her tears. "Everything's… going to be ok," she whimpered weakly. Her sunny smile was glowing despite the rain of her tears on her cheeks and the sight broke his heart in two. "I'm not afraid…"

.

"I- we just… it's been over a month since… and then…" He looked back at her, desperate for answers. "How are we just figuring this out...?"

.

"Miss Porlyusica thinks that because I'm not like the other dragon slayers, it's affecting how my body is… is reacting," Neirah softly explained. "I don't get motion sickness like them, I never catch cold… She thinks that the sickness that usually… comes with childbearing… I'm immune to like common illnesses and alcohol…" She shifted her gaze in humiliation. "Everything else… well… the obvious… We have been so strained, the days blurring together. I guess I just never thought…" She sighed in defeat. "Miss Porlyusica thinks that my body reacted by developing a barrier around the child to protect it during combat. It's why my power has been running so low in the last few days…"

.

"I don't know what to say," he whispered weakly. His hand trembled so tightly against hers that he worried he'd never regain feeling in it. "Neirah, what do I say…?"

.

"I don't know," she admitted sadly. "I… I don't know what this means for… for us…"

.

Neirah's eyes widened as he reached forward and wrapped his arms around her, his embrace clutching her more tightly than she'd ever felt it. She stared blankly at his chest, feeling his arms tremble around her as he drew her near. And then, she felt his tears dampening the top of her head where he had laid his face.

.

"Maybe… fate's finally on our side…"

.

Neirah's eyes widened impossibly further in startled delight, emotions flooding from inside her in waves of grateful tears. She couldn't explain the way she felt to hear his subtle acceptance of their situation but she knew that it would be a feeling she'd cling to until the end of time.

.

She let him silently hold her for a long moment, and they cried.

.

Both of them, together.

.

"I'm sorry..." His whisper was rough and quiet as he kneaded his tense fingertips against her nape through her hair. "I said some stupid things…"

.

"It's ok…"

.

"I didn't mean them… I didn't want to mean them…"

.

"Laxus, it's ok…"

.

She closed her eyes, gripping him just as tightly as he held her, wishing that she could cling to the moment and its beauty as she was filled with love and purpose. But she couldn't. On the horizon was a dark phantom, sweeping through the land like the plague he commanded and with him, he carried death and misfortune.

.

"Miss Porlyusica warned me that I shouldn't fight…" Neirah gently whispered while slowly opening her eyes. "But this is my fight… It's always been… my fight…"

.

Laxus just closed his eyes and held her tighter. A part of him was panic-stricken, lost in the terror of the moment he realised that he was mere months from becoming a father. But there was something else festering productively beneath his skin, an overwhelming warmth and need to defend. Not just her, not just his friends, but the very land they trod, the very air they breathed.

.

For his family. For his child.

.

He raised his palm to the back of her head, his lips still pressed into her silky auburn waves as he spoke. "I'm not… gonna stop you," he whispered weakly against her.

.

"I'm not ready to walk away... I want our child to come into this world free," she whispered humbly while gently prying her way back from his embrace. "Free of my past, free to live safely in a world overflowing with peace…" She pulled back her stern, teary gaze and looked back at him proudly. "I'll fight with everything I have to give them everything that was denied to me…"

.

"Say that again," he pleaded. His weak eyes watched her lips as his trembling fingers rolled over her tear-stained cheeks.

.

"I-I want our child-"

.

"Just the last part…" he encouraged desperately. His face neared hers as she spoke.

.

His lips were almost touching hers when she finally blinked more emotional tears past her cheeks and breathed out her response. "Our child…"

.

There could never be another.

.

Laxus closed his eyes and covered her lips with his, his heart swelling with pride for the woman sitting bravely in his embrace. He didn't care that he was scared as hell for what was to come for them in the next year of their life, he felt stronger just hearing her say the words. Just feeling her clutched so tightly in his arms, her touch so kind and gentle as she drew him deeper into their kiss. He felt stronger. He felt alive…

.

And ten times as dangerous.

.

.

Freed whirled around in alarm, interrupting the bandaging of his shoulder as he redirected his attention to dawn breaking over a forest that trembled with weighted footsteps. "No," he breathed out weakly.

.

"Crap! Looks like Zade's already found himself a replacement!" Bickslow announced as he leapt to his feet. "Hope you guys are ready for round two because here it comes!"

.

Zade glared down at their company resentfully as his new pet sprang forth from the forest borders and emitted the most horrid reptilian screech they'd ever heard. "You truly thought you could escape me?!" Zade roared over the beast's humid snorts of wrath. "This whole forest is full of creatures just waiting to fall under my command!"

.

"You killed his fucking rat, didn't you?" Gajeel growled, bitterly aware that Zade could only react so passionately towards the death of his beloved companion. Gajeel turned to burst into Neirah's medical tent when Laxus stepped out, his gaze downcast and void as he stepped by the iron dragon. "Hope you two are done makin' up 'cause we've got-" His gaze widened and paled when he looked into the tent to see that Neirah had already fled, the flap at the rear of the tent dancing in the slight maritime breeze. "Shadow?! What the hell?!"

.

"She's already gone," Laxus growled upon stepping past the crowd.

.

"Gone?!" Gajeel roared.

.

"Why didn't you stop her!?" Porlyusica scolded in disbelief.

.

"Because I believe in her," he snarled bestially. Dark crimson scales developed on his forearms as he glared at the person who had almost managed to tear him from her loving embrace. "Like she believes in me…"

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Laxus, your power rivals that of some of the ten wizard saints. I don't care what anyone says, that's an amazing accomplishment. It isn't that you can't control it, but you only use that power when you're already blinded by the emotions that push humans to their breaking point. You've just associated your greatest strength with your greatest weakness and grown to fear them like they're related."_

 _._

 _He scoffed and turned away from her, dismissing her logic bitterly as he struggled to refute it._

 _._

 _She smiled sadly in consideration. "You're a real pain, you know that?" She crooned her sentiment affectionately, meeting his dim side-glance as it shifted her way. "I told you that you wouldn't be alone in this fight…"_

 _._

 _"_ _I'm not sacrificing my humanity to beat this guy…"_

 _._

 _Neirah softly shook her head. "You're the only one who sees it as a sacrifice of humanity," she whispered. She slowly turned and approached the exit of their guild, a kind smile on her lips. "Even after the first time you gave into circumstance and became that beast you're so afraid of, the hands that held me that night were still gentle." She looked out into the world beyond the rift they lingered in. "And I have no doubt that after this, the next person they hold will make the same claim."_

.

* * *

.

 _There could never be another..._

.

"My hands," he muttered huskily to himself. "They have someone to hold… and you almost took them away from me."

.

"Laxus…?" Freed leapt backwards, retracting his touch from where it reached out to the man seething crimson static in front of him. "What on earth!?"

.

"You can throw every fucking animal in that forest at me and it still won't be enough!" Laxus raged uncontrollably, his footsteps as powerful as the beast in front of him as he approached Zade's apparition. "Because I have someone waiting for me!"

.

* * *

.

"There it is," Levy whispered softly as they walked into dawn's morning light. She held her hand to her brow to dim the sunlight overcoming the clearing ahead. "That's the circle."

.

Natsu looked around the grounds suspiciously, his unease apparent to everyone standing around him. "It all seems too easy if you ask me," he rumbled irately. His gaze shifted anxiously over the land. "It's way too quiet around here for someone trying to resurrect a damn dr-"

.

Interrupting Natsu was the most devastating noise that could have filled their ears as they approached the clearing. The piercing roar that shook the earth managed to stall them all in their tracks, hope for victory fading to a dwindling ember.

.

"N-no!" Levy whimpered helplessly, taking a step back as a giant claw stepped out of nothing and crushed the earth beneath its life. "We're too late?!"

.

Lucy's expression whitened like a sheet as she watched a gruesomely half-formed dragon step out of the void and throw its disfigured head into the air with another blood-curdling shriek. "N-no… and Neirah won't be here with the others for hours!"

.

"We don't have that kind of time…" Natsu growled, his fierce gaze narrowing on their horrific target. "We can't let that thing take off!"

.

Levy bit her lips so hard that the coppery taste of blood began to fill her mouth. 'It looks… almost rotted… Like it's barely living…' Her grip tightened on her bag as it's beady crimson eyes pierced her. 'Like they haven't finished reforming it yet… There may… still be time…'

.

Lucy's body shuddered in terror as the power of the dragon's roar pushed their party back with its percussive blast. "Ahn, Natsu! There's no way we can hold this back on our- hyah?! Levy!" She reached after the script mage as she sprinted towards the dragon. "Levy, what are you doing!?"

.

"Keep it busy!" Levy ordered, her heartbeat deafening her as she stormed the dragon before them.

.

"What are you thinking!?" Lucy wailed, almost toppling over as the dragon released another furious cry.

.

"Solid script! Guard!" Levy demanded. She kept her feet beneath her by defending against the force of her opponent's sheer presence. 'Don't let me down, guys!' She thought gravely, continuing her approach on Suri's magic circle. 'If I can just get close enough to adjust the condition of this enchantment, maybe I can just piggyback on Suri's power to hold him down until the others can get here…' She closed her eyes and covered her ears as the dragon's wrath consciously exalted with its growing strength. 'If Shadow was here… she'd surely break the seal…' She shook her head furiously to dismiss the thoughts. "No! She promised!" She whimpered shrilly, growing closer to the circle.

.

She skidded to a halt by the illuminated enchantment at the dragon's back. "Solid script! Silence!" She hollered to quiet her area of work. She whipped out her wind reader glasses and slapped them on her face, going to work as swiftly as she could manage. "Please, hurry Gajeel…"

.

* * *

.

Neirah's eyes stung as she powered through the air with wings of sanctified purity settled between her shoulders. 'If Zade is growing so persistent, it can only mean one thing… He's pressed for time…' She thought apprehensively. 'Levy and the others are obviously causing him to panic and he's losing that arrogant cool…' She winced with the pressure changes she experienced while zipping through the air at lightning speeds. She didn't have time to travel by foot.

.

It may have already been too late.


	14. Divine Resistance

_**Divine Resistance**_

* * *

.

.

"Be careful, Natsu!" Lucy demanded as she watched the overzealous fire wizard take charge on their undead rival.

.

"Listen up, you zombie freak!" Natsu raged, leaping towards the dragon's fierce jaws where flesh barely clung to its bones. "If you had any idea what you were up against, you'd just give up now!" There was a lag in the dragon's moans of discomfort as Natsu barreled through the flames into the side of the beasts' head, clutching the exposed exoskeleton as the dragon writhed beneath the burst of flame glued to its face. "Fairy Tail has survived every dragon we've encountered! And we _will_ survive this!" Natsu expelled more magical energy when he leapt back into the air and avoided the dragon's claws. Missing its target, the dragon was left wide open for its own attack, the collision sliding more limp flesh from its body. "Fire dragon's brilliant flame!"

.

Lucy took a step backwards, defending her eyes from the sweep of dust and smoke that swept across the plain in the dragon's pained roars. She turned her attention back to where Natsu had landed nearby and watched the smoke clear. "Yea! You tell him, Natsu!" She encouraged.

.

Natsu's uncertain gaze widened when the clearing of the smoke revealed the rise of the dragon's head, his ears filling with the hollow echoing of fused voices from within the dragon's chest joined in laughter.

.

"Pitiful fools…"

.

Natsu staggered backwards a step. "It can talk…"

.

"A mere human could never possibly defeat a dragon."

.

"Reku has already been fused into the dragon's body…" Lucy murmured weakly.

.

Reku drew back his long, exposed spinal column and glared down at Natsu with an amused look in his glowing crimson eyes. "No one among you has the power to see me from this world!"

.

"Get a grip ugly. You're barely of this world ta begin with."

.

Lucy turned her head with a relieved smile. "Damion! Arihana!"

.

Damion offered the beast a wickedly crooked smirk as he tossed his cloak to the ground beside Arihana. "Looks like you're missin' somethin' kinda important, Drippy, like maybe a body." Damion ground his molars, sharp canines displayed in his sinister grin. "Zade leave ya high 'n dry?"

.

"He must not be completely present in Reku's body this moment to construct it," Arihana cooed gently. "The Empress must have run into conflict with him."

.

"You…" Reku growled. "Kairyn's _charity_ dragons…"

.

Damion flinched as Reku threw his head back with a hearty laugh.

.

"To think! That I would swat a true dragon slaying wizard to the ground so effortlessly and then two fake ones arrive just in time to greet their fate!"

.

"It's true, Kairyn found us at our weakest and gave us a gift that would help to serve him better, but even in his absence, we will still give all of our strength for our Empress," Arihana ordered. A frosty presence clouded her soft lavender gaze as amphibian pupils formed in her once milky eyes.

.

Damion hated the way people talked about Kairyn like he hadn't sacrificed his own life for the greater good of humanity, a cause nobly inherited from the infinite dragon himself. "Kairyn saved my life, bro…" Damion murmured mellowly. He cut his sharp ebony gaze back to their enemy. "My job's to make it so his sacrifice ain't in vain."

.

Damion threw his arms out in front of him, drawing forth a monstrous tidal wave from over his shoulders. "Bad news for you, Drippy. By the time my baby and I are through with you, ya ain't gonna be nothin' but a doggy's dream."

.

Arihana took her cue to come to life and hoisted herself into the air on a lean glacial tower. Once she'd surpassed the height of the waves Damion brought forth to the battlefield, she leapt from her tower and dove inside the liquid, plunging towards the ground like a tiny frozen bullet.

.

Reku growled and braced his stance as the abrasive waves crashed into his bony figure, washing more rotting flesh from his bones as he pressed against the force. Then, from beneath him, Arihana darted swiftly between the gaps in his flesh and bones. When Damion raised his hand, she was ready to go to work.

.

"Aqua dragon's roarin' geyser!" He drawled, the pillar of water bursting through Reku's ribcage.

.

Reku's roar was frustrated as he was pierced, but before he could shake off the blow, Arihana was bursting forth through the geyser's path with an addition all her own. "Glacial dragon's crystalline flash freeze!" Her command froze the gushing water to solid lavender ice.

.

"Keep at 'im, babe!" Damion ordered, skiing down his own frozen waves on approach. "Y'know this won't keep 'im down for long!"

.

"Right!" Arihana agreed from standing on her delicate tiptoes atop the peak. She drew her arms back, an elegant ice bow springing forth in her hands. "Elyas' arrow: diamond hailstorm!"

.

Reku roared bitterly with the pelting of frozen arrows against his cranium, frustrated that he was unable to avoid them. As a result, his piercing gaze shifted to the frost dragon slayer.

.

Arihana's gaze widened as Reku's jaws rocketed towards her, her escape routes nil as she perched on her glacier.

.

"Aqua dragon's cascadin' wing attack!" Damion roared upon slamming Reku's nose to the ground. He powered off the dragon's snout before curling his liquid manipulation up around the frozen tower his wife-to-be was perched upon. "Gotch'yer back babe," he crooned. His affection caused the frost slayer to flush pink beneath his delicate peck on her cheek. "Yeehaw!" Damion yipped as he surfed his way through the dragon's skeleton to the earth once more with his woman in his arms. "Check this out, faeries," he purred. He set Arihana on her feet beside him. "This is gonna be righteous."

.

Reku burst out of his frozen prison with a deafening cry of frustration.

.

Damion snickered and covered his ears. "Yowza. Knew he wouldn't like that."

.

"This should give the Empress and her team more time to catch up," Arihana crooned gently through a returning soft demeanour.

.

"What by making him angrier?!" Lucy wailed. "So not helpful!"

.

"Look at it this way, toots. The more focused he 'is on meltin' our totally radical faces, the less attention he's gonna pay to keepin' himself in one serious gnarly piece."

.

Natsu smiled sinisterly as he took his ready and glared back at the fuming dragon. "Alright, I'm all fired up now," he crooned. "Pissin' people off is what I'm good at."

.

"Dude…" Wavebreak purred enthusiastically.

.

"Damion, I need a post," Arihana ordered sternly.

.

"Ah, I knew you were gonna crack the whip on me sooner er' later," he chuckled playfully and hoisted her beneath a funnel of moisture. "Ari's goin' into sniper mode so keep outta 'er rain." He peeked up to where she'd froze his cyclone and withdrawn her bow. "'Ey babe, I can see up yer skirt from down- Hyck."

.

Lucy's expression dimmed as he watched Damion's mass hit the ground beneath Arihana's arrow. "She seemed so sweet at camp…"

.

"Wicked…" Damion crooned affectionately. He staggered to his feet and rolled the tension out of his shoulders. "A'ight, Smokestack, let's see what kinda heat you're packin'," he mused playfully upon taking Natsu's side.

.

"Guys wait!" Lucy encouraged. "Be careful where you're attacking! Levy's out there!"

.

"Ey? What's she doin' out there? Zombie drago's already awake," Wavebreak casually pointed out.

.

"I-!... I don't honestly know what she's thinking…" Lucy murmured gently. "But she must have a plan if she's putting herself so close to the battle and at risk!"

.

"Right," Damion acknowledged. He tipped his head back to look up the glacial tower towards his fiancé. "Hear that, purple panties? Gotta not hit the little blue- Youch."

.

"This is what true love looks like," Lucy mused in amusement proceeding Damion's lifeless thud.

.

Arihana aimed her bow, one eye closed as the other honed in on her target. "I never miss," she purred uncharacteristically abrasive. "Elyas' arrow: frost blitz."

.

Lucy whirled her head to watch the glistening strands of Arihana's shot pierce the morning light and splinter over their dragon foe in the form of a crystal net. As the webbing attached to him in five corners, the particles started to freeze out in all directions to immobilise the aggravated creature.

.

"Careful though, bro," Damion assured Natsu seriously. "Playin' 'im a distraction card's only gonna work so long." He turned to face Natsu with a frighteningly bleak expression. "We can melt 'im down to nothin' but bones and he's still gonna get back up. The only thing that can stop infinity, is infinity."

.

"Neirah…" Lucy whispered softly.

.

"Bingo, Blondie," Damion crooned. "Keep it in mind while we're keepin' 'im busy."

.

Natsu nodded with an enthusiastic fist pump. "That doesn't keep us from setting his progress back about a couple hundred years," he broadcasted. "Why don't we find out at what temperature water boils?"

.

Wavebreak blinked at him curiously. "Dude, who taught _you_ anythin'? It's a hundred degrees, man."

.

"Awe man, come on! I was tryin' to say something cool and you gotta go shut it down!" Natsu whined energetically. "I don't do water, I do the fire! But we come at this guy hot enough he might not be so damn ugly to look at."

.

"Received," Damion drawled upon taking off after Natsu's charge.

.

"Lucy! You and Lily stay by Levy in case this guy gets stompin' around where he shouldn't!"

.

"Ok!" Lucy agreed before rushing in the opposite direction.

.

"Be careful you two!" Lily ordered, taking his sword up in thick humanoid arms.

.

"Careful? You guys don't know how to live!" Damion sang. He sank his heels into the ground and drew up to a stall at the dragon's front. "Let's take er' to the edge." He flashed the sight of sharp canines and flipped his shaggy navy hair out of his face as he leant back drew a deep breath. "And steam out all this ugly, if ya catch my drift. Aqua dragon's roar!"

.

"Sounds good to me!" Natsu sang upon mimicking the water dragon's efforts. "Fire dragon's roar!"

.

"Damn it, you guys!" Levy whined frantically. She tried her hardest to continue with her enchantment since her sight had been hindered by humid steam seeping over the misty battlefield. "Solid script! Storm!" Her order banished the mist from her workspace.

.

"That Wavebreak guy might actually be more reckless than our Salamander," Lucy mused externally upon taking Levy's side. "So? You wanna fill us in on what your plan is?"

.

Levy nodded sternly and pulled her hair out of her face. "Well, knowing that Shadow is the only one who can stop Reku, I thought I could buy some more time if I pinned him down. If I can rewrite this circle to trap whatever's inside it, it'll be easy to pummel him into oblivion."

.

"Great idea!" Lucy encouraged. "Here, let me see if I can help!"

.

* * *

.

Zade's projection started to flicker as he stared out over the mass of lifeless creatures strewn about in front of him. Laxus hadn't exaggerated. Every beast Zade had thrown his way, he'd annihilated. Then, by the look in the lightning wizard's eyes, he still wasn't satisfied.

.

"It's a shame, I had hoped to dispatch of you here before you and your power had a chance to interfere with the dragon's awakening, but playtime has run out and I am required elsewhere," Zade murmured indifferently. He himself wasn't threatened by the wrath seething before him, and by the time he was, he would be more powerful than the man could possibly imagine. "But this isn't over… If you manage to find the circle before I have dispatched your guild's resistance, we will finish this battle between beasts."

.

Laxus slowly rolled his attention to the projection fading before him, the laboured rise and fall of his chest for his eagerness to destroy; not his exhaustion. "Tsk, I'll find it…" It was the first words he'd spoken since entering his dragon force. "All I have to do is follow the smell of fucking flowers…"

.

"Finally embracing the beast inside, I see," Zade mocked. He tried his hardest to throw Laxus off his game at least once more before he took his final revenge. "Have we come to accept what we really are?"

.

Even if what Zade was seeing was only a shadow of the rage that was the lightning dragon, his brow was still forced to perspire as Laxus burst forward in a flash of light and reappeared at the man's back, looming over him with unrestrained foreboding. "If I find out that you knew she wasn't the only you turned me loose on in the valley, death's gonna look like mercy…"

.

Zade stilled, his throat working apprehensively as he started to fade away. "Time is running out. Soon, I will usher in the dawn of the undead dragon. Nothing, not even Zeref will be able to stop me then," Zade growled in conclusion.

.

An amused snicker filled the lightning wizard's chest as crimson scales faded from his body, a more human-like demeanour returning as he stepped away from the fading projection with a smirk. "S'Gonna suck ass when a five foot nothin' little brat tears you and your dragon right outta the sky…" He turned and glared eagerly at the man almost completely faded from his sight. "Now there's somethin' I can't wait to see."

.

Laxus turned back to his path upon the Ghoul Knight's final sneer. "Alright guys, here he comes," he cautioned. "I hope you're ready…"

.

* * *

.

Wavebreak catapulted across the plain and crashed into the thick glacial mound that his fiancé was perched upon, the impact of the dragon's tail crashing into his gut forcing a mouthful of blood from his lungs.

.

"Damio-aih!" Arihana squealed, toppling off her crushing perch as the rain of ice shards fell towards the wounded water wizard. She thrust her hands out in a desperate attempt to redirect them, sending them into the tail of their villain before she crashed into the ground alongside him.

.

Reku let out an amused roar before whipping his tail towards the Fairy Tail team and releasing the shards like barbs from his scales. "Pathetic! _All of you_!" He roared, watching his attack careen towards the others.

.

Lucy pulled back on Sagittarius bow and fired a scattershot towards the ice, striking down enough shots to protect Levy. Whatever came through, Pantherlily dismissed with his sword.

.

"Hang in there, guys! I'm almost there!" Levy encouraged.

.

"Fire dragon's iron fist!" Natsu cried, dissolving the ice fired his way to take charge. "Frost! Wavebreak! You guys ok?!"

.

Damion narrowly opened one eye as he smiled back at the enthusiastic fire wizard. "We're outta time, bro," he cautioned as he propped up against his lover for support. "Zade's comin' out to play…There- hng… ready to wrap things up here…"

.

"Crap," Natsu hissed. "And Shads still ain't here."

.

"How right you are…" Reku growled, flesh materialising around his bones more rapidly with the absorption of Zade's strength. "And without my dear sister's presence, there is nothing stopping me from destroying you!"  
.

"It's done!" Levy announced. "Now all we have to do is get him to step into the circle!"

.

"Natsu!" Lucy wailed. "Push him back!"

.

"It won't work!" Reku roared, throwing his glowing head back as he gathered magical energy. "I can feel the divine! Infinite magic! It fills me with power!"

.

Natsu barely dodged the beam of light as it ripped towards him, the sheer force of the expulsion tearing up the forest miles at their back. "No way," he growled from his belly. "That's Shadow's magic alright. This guy's done playing around."

.

"I can feel my strength returning and when it does, the end will fall upon the world of humanity! The end that Ryverika should have brought years ago!"

.

"You were human once!" Arihana shouted weakly. "How can you be so hungry for this tragedy!?"

.

Reku opened his beady crimson eyes, their presence more tangible and less orb-like now that he was reviving. He swept his tail into the wizarding couple nearby. "Humanity betrayed me first! I suffered at the hands of my father and his followers, for his experiments! His own son!" The dragon howled. "Humanity is a pestilence that I will see from this world!"

.

"Neirah went through the same thing!" Lucy shouted angrily. "And you don't see her throwing a tantrum! She's the one fighting to protect humanity! Just like Ryverika did!"

.

"Then she is a fool!" Reku raged, blasting another beam of light towards Lucy and her team.

.

"Hang on!" Pantherlily encouraged. He swiftly lifted the women into the air to avoid the blast.

.

"Natsu, if that really is Neirah's magic, he could use that scary judgment spell she has and wipe us all out any minute!" Happy whined.

.

"He doesn't have that kind of power yet," Natsu assured the cat. "It looks like Zade's fixing his body right now so we still have a little more time."

.

"Natsu! Get him to step into the circle!" Levy demanded.

.

"Easier said than done," Natsu growled. "My attacks aren't even making him flinch anymore…"

.

"Reku!"

.

Natsu whirled to look over his shoulder to where Infinity Dragon's guild master stood at his back standing proudly in line with the dragon's nose. "Wait…"

.

"Ahh… sister," the dragon snarled.

.

Neirah narrowed her amber reptilian gaze and spread her arms out in front of her. "I am _not_ your sister," she growled. She suddenly took the stance of her infinite judgment spell. "Everyone else, leave right away!" She warned them. "I don't know if I can keep this from spreading!"

.

"Surely you wouldn't risk your friend's lives," Reku rumbled sceptically while taking a single step back in retreat.

.

"Neirah! Don't do this!" Damion roared in terror.

.

"Almost there!" Levy announced hopefully. "One more step and he'll be locked within the enchantment.

.

"Leave now!" Neirah demanded, her hands trembling as they made her mark of casting. "I will do what I must!"

.

"Whoa wait! Wait for us to leave first!" Lucy squealed with alarm.

.

"She can't," Natsu murmured softly as his gaze whirled to face the dragon.

.

"I will see you dead with me then!" He defied, parting his jaws to release Zade's organic destruction miasma.

.

Neirah shrieked in alarm as her bluff was called. "No… he still didn't get caught in the circle," she whimpered pitifully.

.

"Neirah, look out!" Natsu roared upon diving into the woman's shuddering figure.

.

"NATSU!" Lucy cried.

.

"Divine purge!"

.

Lucy flinched as the clearing filled with light to the powerful presence of Neirah's commanding voice. "W-wait how?!" She whirled to face Natsu, a little Edolas Neirah shivering in fear beneath his protection after she had transformed back into her true form. Lucy's eyes widened and her breathing hitched. "She took the form of our Neirah to try and get him back into the circle…"

.

Neirah's true amber gaze burned with a furious passion as she stormed the clearing amongst her friends. "Reku," she all but snarled.

.

"Sister…" He hissed playfully, steam rolling out of his nostrils as Zade's work on his body neared completion. "I've missed you… Come! Come and watch me as I destroy humanity in the name of our father!"

.

Neirah's gaze narrowed on the tattoos that streaked the dragon's scales beneath one of his eyes, similarly to how she had one beneath each of her own. It had been a long time since she had felt the gentle crawl of such sincere tears over the curves of her cheeks, it had been a long time since she'd trembled so fiercely in fear and rage. The only thing standing between the world and Reku's wrath now was her.

.

"I never thought that I'd be so glad… that Ryverika was gone," she whispered out softly with a hoarse catch in her voice. "I'm glad he can't see how corrupt his will has become in your hands…"

.

"Don't be foolish, sister!" Reku mused sinisterly and loud in beckoning. "His will has died with him and now not but his power remains; a power that I possess!" Neirah flexed her fist at her side, her teeth ground as she denied her gaze to him, shuttering in revolt. "There is only my will now! The will of a god!"

.

"You are not a god," she hissed bitterly beneath her breath. She was appalled that he would even dare to compare himself in any way to Ryverika. "You're no more than a nameless dragon, a creature that we were trained to slay."

.

"Empress be careful!" Arihana warned. "He may not be fully regenerated but he has use of some of your infinite castings now! You are not capable of absorbing magic like the other dragon slayers!"

.

"Let him come," Neirah growled impatiently. She didn't need to be reminded of her weaknesses. "I'll hold him back while the rest of you-"

.

"We ain't goin' anywhere," Gajeel snarled. He proudly took her side upon his arrival with Evergreen and Bickslow.

.

"Gajeel…" Neirah gasped out softly. She took a moment of slight concern to see that Laxus wasn't by his side, but her lips still curled into a soft grin. "I should have known better…"

.

"Now Freed!" Levy cried.

.

With a stern nod, Freed laid his sword upon the lines of Levy's work, forcing the manipulation of the enchantment to adjust and seal their enemy within its borders. "Even a beast such as you are bound by the rules of the enchantment," he murmured sternly. "It will be here that you are laid to rest once more."

.

"Insolence!" Reku roared bitterly. "Is that what you think?!"

.

Freed leapt back in alarm when the dragon thrashed about and tore the runes from the air with a powerful surge of magical energy.

.

"How dare you insult the infinite with such mediocre tactics!" He roared.

.

"No!" Levy whimpered. "All that work and it didn't hold him for more than a couple of seconds!"

.

Reku neared the ground, arching his mighty shoulders as he glared at the gathering of wizards before him. "I was intending on taking revenge for Master Zade before anything else, but destroying you meddling ingrates has become my priority. You will tremble before the ultimate destructive force!"

.

Golden wings burst forth from between Neirah's shoulders and delivered her to Reku's presence. "The infinite dragon was not a weapon. He was a silent guardian meant to defend humanity against the dark times."

.

"You know only the watered stories that Ryverika spun you in your youth. Even you, who met the beast in the flesh, could never comprehend his divine might!" Reku snarled. "I will enjoy destroying you most of all…" His words seethed through his tremendous jaw, steam escaping his flared nostrils. "My delicate little _sister_ …"

.

"No matter how frail or innocent a soul is, the most horrifying monsters are birthed within them when you threaten the people they love," she hissed sinisterly under her breath. "How ironic that today will be the day the shadows defend in the name of the light." She opened her determined gaze and glared back at him defiantly as she rested her hands at the ready before her. "It's your move, Reku."

.

"A threat!?" He raged comically. "Do you honestly think your pitiful efforts can stop me now?! The breath of the infinite divine blessing me with his life!"

.

"I know they can," she choked out venomously. She was sick of Ryverika's name being referred to in a context he never desired.

.

"I don't understand," Evergreen whimpered. "If Reku is an infinite dragon and Neirah is an infinite dragon slayer, won't their magic just cancel each other out?"

.

"Know your enemy, Reku," Neirah warned him. "The humanity that you lost faith in will be your undoing. Your father will see to that."

.

Reku's dark gaze flashed menacingly before he drew back his head for another devastating infinite roar. "My father is dead at the hands of your mother!" He cried, his beam barreling towards her in full force.

.

Perspiration beaded on Gajeel's brow as he watched Neirah linger confidently before the blast. "Crap! The kid doesn't got immunity to her own magic!"

.

"Your father may be dead, but mine is still alive and well within me," Neirah cautioned him. "And his will is absolute. Hellfire dark arts; expel devastation."

.

Lucy gasped with a grateful smile on her lips as she watched the urgency of black shades rush past the light and engulph its golden glow in its entirety. "It's the same magic Karua used against Neirah when she got her memories back!"

.

Reku's eyes widened in a vehement frenzy as Neirah cast one of Karua's infinite dismissal spells. "How," he snarled. "How do you know of the dark arts Austalian's created to defend against the Golden Dragon Divine!?"

.

Neirah glowered back at him bitterly. "Like my mother, I paid attention to the people trying to manipulate me. My eyes watched it happen, I learned it. Because I knew this day would come."

.

Reku sank his claws into the earth and glared at Neirah as her body started to change. Her skin darkened ebony and golden cracks broke through the shadows on her skin as bleached hair lined her back.

.

His bitter glare darted from side to side as coloured auras started to emanate from the dragon slayers at her back when she slowly raised her eyes, her luminescent gold gaze fixated on where he started to shift in alarm.

.

"Until the merging is complete, you are at our mercy, dragon," she warned him. She completed raising her arms with her hands outstretched to either side of her body. "I may not be able to power up on your magic, but I can power every single element at my back to use in this fight against you."

.

"Centuries ago, Ryverika announced that the world belonged to humanity. If that is his will, I will see it done," Neirah announced regally. "At any cost…"

.

Levy trembled in alarm as she watched Neirah strengthen their defences, confidence swelling within her friend like she'd never known. "Please stay strong, Shads," she murmured gently. "We're here to help…"

.

Neirah lowered her voice at the dragon's nose to a dull murmur. "Fortunately for you, this battle will not go as I had planned," she cautioned him malevolently. "Because I have somebody waiting for me now…"

.

Reku ground his teeth and spread his mighty wings, beating them wildly until the whirlwind had dismissed Neirah from his presence. "I will deal with you later, Sister!" He ordered. "Before anything, I owe Fiore's kingdom a-"

.

Reku's amphibian shriek was deafening as a pillar of crimson lightning barreled down between his wings, the current tearing through his body and brutal streaks of lightning shredding the wings that Zade worked so diligently to see operational.

.

Near to where Neirah had tumbled to the ground with the force of Reku's lift, Laxus was dropping to the earth, the thunderous impact cracking the plain they stood atop.

.

He panted his exhaustion for making it to battle so swiftly, knelt on one knee and ready to make good on his word. 'I warned you I'd find you…' He thought rancorously. Crimson static leapt from the scales coating his forearms and shoulders. He didn't think he'd ever wanted to kill somebody so bad in all his life.

.

Life flickered in his gaze as he felt a familiar heat pressed up against his back, the sweet scent of sakura embracing him as her white gold locks cascaded over his chest.

.

"It's about time you showed up," Neirah patronised as she laid her head back on his shoulder. He stretched his fists out to either side, leaning forwards so that she could brace the weight of her back pressed against his against his solid form. "Are you ready?" His heart raced as her ebony claws pierced the scales on his forearms, her hands clutching him tightly as their magic intertwined; the light of the infinite illuminating the rising veins marking his tension.

.

He'd still never felt anything like it, the waves of her relinquished guard washing over him, her true power revealed and forced to circulate through his veins. He struggled to keep his vision his own as their energy commingled between them but at least on a second attempt, he knew what to expect. He could feel that she hadn't hesitated once in exposing him to her deadly magic. If for once alone, adrenaline saw that she was in control of it and entirely focused on the task at hand.

.

Neirah closed her eyes and laid her head back on his shoulder, slowly rolling her lips to where she could whisper her assurance in his ear. "This is Heaven's Rain."

.

"A unison raid?!" Evergreen shouted in alarm. "Out of those two?!"

.

"If I were smart I'd be sayin' now would be a good time to duck n' cover but this is way too freakin' cool to miss!" Bickslow crooned devilishly with a hysterical laugh piercing the monstrous snap of thunder around them.

.

"Infinite crimson lightning?!" Freed marvelled. "Wouldn't that kind of power destroy her?!"

.

Reku was moments from interrupting the rain of sparks on his wounded figure, but that was before the sky opened up above him and rained hundreds of bright static charges from the darkened sky. Just as his cries pierced the air, the ground opened up beneath him and dark charges swallowed him up from beneath.

.

Laxus ground his teeth as Neirah walked over his shoulders, their gazes meeting only momentarily before he wrapped her hand around his and tossed her towards the wailing beast. "Go!"

.

"Abyssal sky-break!" Neirah howled, sailing through the air towards her enemy in a brilliant burst of golden light. She drew her hands out in front of her and closed the rifts between black and white electricity, crushing their dragon foe between the rift. "Infinite god-storm!"

.

"Whoa! That did some damage!" Lucy cheered. "I don't know of anything that could get up from that!"

.

"Yeah? Well, let's make sure he stay's down!" Natsu roared as he burst into flames to oppose the dragon once more. "Fire dragon's brilliant FLAME!"

.

"Damion!" Neirah ordered.

.

"That's our cue, Snowflake," a revitalised water wizard crooned as he drove his hands together. "Aqua dragon's colossal rip tide!"

.

"Glacial dragon's polar ice channel!"

.

Reku had no time to recuperate when the ground opened beneath him, trapping him between two monstrous walls of ice as waves crashed forth and swept him under their current.

.

Laxus glared at the underwater beast bitterly before his hand was raising to the sky like his malicious gaze. "Payback's a bitch you fucking bastard," he snarled bitterly. "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

.

Wavebreak narrowly retracted his head from out of the path of the shot, watching as the conductive liquid trapping Reku lit up like the sun. "Whoo! That's gotta sting!" He brayed in amusement. "Never thought my wave's'd be workin' with the zappy bro's spark! Mega ouch!"

.

As soon as his vision was clear of the blast, Gajeel jetted towards where his baby sister was forcing her breathing through intensely ground teeth. "Need a lift, Lily!"

.

"Aye, sir," Pantherlily mocked as he tossed Gajeel into the air towards Neirah.

.

"Alright kid, let's bust this fucker wide open!" He thundered in demand. He watched the once great beast shudder, its body still tremoring with the force of electricity forced through its form after being amplified by the water around it.

.

"I am SICK and TIRED of you creeps screwin' with my kid sister!" Gajeel bellowed venomously. Black steel scales coated his body as he approached the dragon at his sister's side.

.

"Another unison raid with Neirah!?" Freed demanded. "How does she still have the strength to perform such powerful attacks!?"

.

Neirah adorned crystalline steel scales to match her brother's as they plummeted towards their target. She could feel the war ending with every racing heartbeat as Reku's emptying gaze filled with helpless loathing. He had never seen a complete revival beneath their storm.

.

"This is what the power of dragons is meant to be used for!" Neirah roared. Her golden gaze flaring with divine energy. "To defend tomorrow, not seize it!" She drew her arms back in mirrored image of her brother doing the same, the essence of their union rushing over the battlefield beneath their fury. "This is the infinite power of unity that Karua sought! This is the power of humanity! Let this be an example to everyone who opposes Ryverika's will!"

.

"Fallen god's guillotine!"

.

A surge of elemental energy washed over the land, forcing the observing to brace themselves against the annihilating force. It took a while for the dust to settle, leaving onlookers to gawp at the mess the dragon slaying wizards had made of the dragon before them.

.

Neirah stepped past the debris and moved to where she could stand by the dragon's nose, any more closely and she would have had a tiny foot on it. Her black skin had returned to replace her iron dragon force, golden cracks of divine magic breaking through golden scales as the platinum blonde glared down at her predecessor. She knew that if Zade had of succeeded in completely restoring the infinite dragon that their battle would have just begun, but as it stood, the dragon was crippled and she wasn't going to let Zade have another chance at rebuilding what was desecrated.

.

"The worst part of seeing you from this world is that all I have managed to do is rob another puppet of life," Neirah whispered grimly. "The tragedy remains that you were innocent once, like me…"

.

The dragon shuddered as he slowly opened one resentful eye. "You were never innocent, Sister." His defeated growl forced Neirah to stir with guilt. "You just didn't know how guilty you were."

.

Neirah raised her palm to the dragon's mighty face, it's final defiance spoken. "You dishonoured Ryverika today, and by association, myself and all who follow his will." Her gaze was unaffected by the weakness of sympathy when her palm started to glow. "Everyone who believes in a better tomorrow, who believes in the hopes and strength of the people around them; they are all servants of the great dragon's will. So long as humanity thrives, I will protect it with my life. That is my charge… that was his will…"

.

Reku closed his eyes, a peaceful expression filling his tired features. "Even if I fall, this once lowly human felt the power of infinity course through their broken body."

.

Neirah's heart wavered sympathetically as she heard the young man speaking from his once mortal heart.

.

"I knew the freedom of what you always had…"

.

Neirah's eyes widened, her stomach churning with the forbidden reality in which he spoke. With his final surrender, her palm was releasing her concentrated waves of magical energy in a brilliant column that touched the dark sky around them. "Light of the end," she whispered in succession. "Infinite judgment."

.

Levy wanted to look away but she was too entranced by the beauty of the column engulfing their forms. "Amazing," she whispered breathlessly as relieved tears rolled over her face. "Shads… you did it… This is it." She clasped her hand to her face and hit her knees. "You kept your promise…"

.

"Incredible…" Freed murmured. "After all that, she still had the strength to cast a judgment spell that rival's that of the master's Fairy Law."

.

"No, it's worse…" Arihana assured them. "Unlike the revered Fairy Law, this judgement spell purges all darkness whether it be enemy or ally. Master Kairyn couldn't even control its destructive power. It is the spell that would see the Golden Dragon Divine himself bring about the apocalyptic day of reckoning." She gently shook tears from her eyes. "And our Empress has used it to enforce master Ryverika's final wish…"

.

"Wicked!" Damion yipped with an enthusiastic fist pump. He turned and took his fiancé up in his arms and gave her a stern kiss on the nose. "Babe! Check it! Radical, huh!? Master K's gotta be smilin' down on that one!"

.

"She really is amazing," Freed murmured softly as he neared a silent Laxus' side. "My only regret is that I took so long to see what you saw all along."

.

Laxus didn't have a word to offer the phenomena as he watched the light fade. He knew full well that Neirah would claim that she 'couldn't have done it alone'. But deep down, he believed she could have. He could feel the ripples of her power returning to her side with the fading of her light, and just like that, she was as innocent and humble as she was any other day. Just like that, she'd once again concealed a truth that she'd yet to admit to him.

.

"Are you crying?!" Freed demanded of the sniffling Evergreen.

.

"Absolutely not!" She denied bashfully, removing her glasses to wipe her tears. "I've got-"

.

"Somethin' in your eye?" Laxus rumbled playfully. " _Sure_."

.

Neirah watched as the mighty beast started to fade from before her with the light, her throat scratchy as her tears poured over the sides of her face. Humanity had betrayed Reku, given him a taste of a power that humans should never possess. She didn't blame his mortal soul for falling victim to it in the slightest. The very same could have happened to her…

.

She'd thought so… once…

.

"Rest well, Brother…" Her surrendering whisper was tender as she watched the infinite particles scatter on the winds with his purified soul. She raised her gaze for a moment only, but the sight stole her eyes when she thought for certain that she saw the mighty shadow of the Golden Dragon Divine himself nodding his approval. "Master Ry-"

.

Neirah couldn't get her tears to stop as she sealed her eyes and trembled on the spot, her skin fading to normal. "All this time… everything I've been through… It's over," she whimpered. "It's all over."

.

"Poor Neirah," the Edolas Nei squeaked out sadly.

.

"She's been fighting this battle for so long," Lucy murmured gently. "And now it's finally over… What do you do when your life is finally your own after years of carrying that kind of weight? How do you begin again?" Her heart stopped and her trembling gaze widened as Neirah threw her arm into the air and raised her finger high to the clouds breaking with the light of a new day.

.

Natsu smiled and rested his hand snuggly on Lucy's shuddering shoulder. "You put your first foot forward and start walkin'…"

.

"I'm bringing them home, Master," Neirah whispered gently. Her heart warmed beneath where she knew Fairy Tail's wings would soon curl over her left breast. "As of this moment, Infinity Dragon is dissolved… just like its purpose."

.

Gajeel flinched and watched as the ebony Infinity Dragon crest on his arm started to fade into the light of Neirah's spell. After looking around, he saw that Frost's white mark was leaving from the base of her throat beneath her fingertips and Wavebreak was checking his lower back to see the fading of his blue one at its centre.

.

Neirah opened her eyes and smiled a teary beam to the new day laid out before she and her guild. 'Thank you all…'

.

Bickslow's heart stopped in panic as he summoned his totems to his side. "Damn it! There's one way to kill a moment!" He announced upon darting to Neirah's side.

.

"What?!" Freed demanded in alarm. "Bickslow! What's wrong!?"

.

Laxus was instantly thrown onto high alert, his thoughts instinctively falling to the child Neirah was carrying. His child.

.

"Bickslow!" Evergreen shouted after him.

.

"Heads up, Nei!"

.

Neirah whirled around just in time to catch the sight of Bickslow diving through the air to knock her to the ground. Being unaware of the first time he'd done so, she was most certainly taken aback. She blinked up at him, utterly bewildered by the show of defence he demonstrated in keeping her protected beneath him. "Bickslow…?"

.

Bickslow's neon gaze darted fiercely around the area. "Bad news," he informed her sternly. "Zade's soul is still lurkin' around and lookin' for revenge…"

.

Neirah's expression hardened in fury at the very thought. "He must have escaped Reku's body before we destroyed it."

.

Bickslow climbed off of her, having successfully prevented Zade's soul from passing through Neirah's body. The last thing they needed was another infinite dragon standing against them in their weakened states. "Crap! Where the hell did he go?!"

.

"Bickslow!"

.

He turned and swiftly looked back at Infinity Dragon's old master, shifting his gaze to where she held out her hand. Since the day she'd stolen him for an artificial date, Bickslow had always avoided the infinite slayer. It had become common knowledge back at the guild that they were never to be left alone together. Nobody knew why, but Bickslow refused to be anywhere near the feisty woman.

.

"I can't see souls and I can't release a widespread purification with so many of my allies present!" She demanded desperately, the golden scales of her dragon force meeting the ebony claws she held out for him to take. "I need your help…"

.

He hated how vulnerable he felt lingering in a moment and trying to decide whether he was comfortable being so near to her. Then he reminded himself of one thing, the way she banished an entire dragon from existence. If she didn't want to be there with them, with him, they would have all been banished from the earth in her divine light.

.

He reached out and clasped her hand tightly, his back pressing against hers. He'd be damned if they had come this far only for her to have to linger on the thought that one of the Austalian Elitists had escaped. Zade's fury must have been inconceivable to have made such an attempt when he was fully aware that Bickslow could see him lurking, but as long as it was to their advantage, he wasn't going to complain.

.

'Damn it, this guy's all over the place…' Bickslow ground his teeth and kept his gaze locked on the target, waiting to give Neirah a solid lock. That was when Zade was barrelling forwards on the attack, obviously trying to make a possession of the infinite slayer at his back. "There 'e is, babies!" Bickslow demanded before encouraging his totems to hone in on Zade's approach. He jerked Neirah's hand forward and encouraged her aim, swinging her out in front of him. "Lay it on 'im!"

.

"Infinite judgment!" Neirah's command concentrated her spell to cast in a quick, condensed wave, but she flinched when his totems dropped lifelessly around the area of her casting. Her heart sank with the thought she'd banished them with her spell. "Oh no…"

.

"Oh no~!"

.

"Oh no, she says~!"

.

"Keheheh…~"

.

Neirah's eyes widened as she whirled to face the bob of items strewn about from Reku's resurrection site as they floated around a cackling Bickslow.

.

Evergreen's brow twitched. "Did Neirah and _Bickslow_ just work in unison?"

.

Freed narrowly withheld his amused snicker. "There is a first for everything."

.

"Don't worry 'bout them, I shuffled their souls right before you nailed 'em," he assured her with a wicked laugh. "That said, you're totally cl-" His expression paled, his words fading into his racing thoughts when he laid his eyes on her again.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Damn…" Gajeel rumbled hesitantly. The weight of his resilient comrade reminded him that they didn't have time to dance with demons. His breath caught as Laxus shoved him away, the intention being that he'd offer the enemy one last round before the music stopped on their time. "Laxus don't be a-" Gajeel's attention was drawn to sparks crawling along the damp rock face beneath them, and as he pondered the implications, he raised it back to Laxus._

 _._

 _"_ _Don't look at me…" Laxus turned his exhausted expression back over his shoulder to offer Gajeel a casual glance of dismissal. "It's not mine…"_

 _._

 _"_ _What the hell do you mean, 'not yours'?!"_

 _._

 _Gajeel could barely get the remark past his lips before the ground was lighting up before them much to Tempester's dismay. The demon quickly leapt from the fray towards the higher ground before eyeing taller debris suspiciously._

 _._

 _"_ _I hear you like to utilise all elements in battle."_

 _._

 _Tempester_ _cut his impatient glare to where a dark silhouette loomed overhead on a pile of rocky decay. Golden illuminated eyes flashed in dark promise with the rumble of thunder rocking the earth around her._

 _._

 _"_ _We should get along just fine." The next flash of lightning at her back illuminated her lean figure to be bare, but her ebony skin outlined the scattering of golden scales. Long, unbound white gold hair whispered down around her knees as she glowered at the demon resentfully._

 _._

 _"_ _What the hell is goin' on here?" Gajeel demanded nervously. He steadied Laxus once more from where the woman's attack had rattled the brute off balance. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't recognise the scent of the woman taking their side in the conflict. "Is that thing on our side?"_

 _._

 _"_ _Are you dead?"_

 _._

 _Gajeel flinched, shifting his attention to where Laxus was looking back at him. "Well er-"_

 _._

 _"_ _Then it's on our side…" Laxus stared up at the woman weakly, trying to clear the haze overcoming his vision. He knew that Gajeel had his suspicions when lightning interrupted Tempester's advance. "It's not her…"_

 _._

 _Gajeel looked down at him before turning his attention to the dark silhouette in a visual standoff with the immortal Tempester. "But… who else…?" Gajeel flinched in alarm as Laxus groaned in pain and hit his knees despite Gajeel's best efforts to keep him on his feet. "Laxus!"_

 _._

 _"_ _I couldn't feel it," he forced out weakly. He stared at the ground scarred with the presence of lightning. Ever since the ritual Karua had performed on Neirah just before the Grand Magic Games, they had all been connected. "If it was Neirah… I would have felt it…" Laxus' gaze narrowed on Tempester who was being unusually apprehensive with his approach. The demon stared wide-eyed towards the woman and if he wasn't trembling himself, he might've sworn that the beast was shaking._

 _._

 _"_ _Impossible…" Tempester rumbled out nervously. He recoiled skittishly as the woman leapt from the debris she was perched on and darted towards the ground between Fairy Tail and Tartaros. Just when she was about to strike with an earth-shattering impact, her toes delicately brushed off the ground's surface before the toes of her bare feet settled comfortably around the sway of white gold locks cascading around her elegant presence._

 _._

 _"_ _You have made three very grave mistakes here this day." Her graceful voice seemed to echo around them as she spoke. "One, you have laid assault upon humanity with your demonic poison." Gajeel watched very carefully as Tempester took a step back like he was actually afraid of the demon before him. "Two, you have brought harm to my loved ones."_

 _._

 _"_ _It's gotta be Mirajane," Gajeel observed swiftly. "She musta absorbed one of these guys and taken em' over." Laxus just stared quietly, wondering why he doubted Gajeel's sound logic when he knew he would have felt Neirah's strike pulse through him if it were hers. Gajeel's eyes widened as cracks of golden light broke through the ebony of the woman's skin in enough places to illuminate an ebony Fairy Tail crest above her heart. "No freaking way! Do you-"_

 _._

 _"_ _I see it," Laxus huffed out shortly._

 _._

 _"_ _Your third is standing there and expecting that you are going to escape with your life." Gajeel's uncertain gaze trembled as he watched the extension of her golden claws catch her own light with the flex in their grip. "And I guarantee you that it is the last one you will EVER make."_

 _._

 _Gajeel's dry swallow caught in his throat as he stared at the woman's back, his mind swimming with memories. He hated how pathetically weak his cracked reply sounded as he offered it. "Shads…?"_

 _._

 _She raised her foot delicately along her opposing calf before thrusting it down into the ground, the force of her energy's expulsion enough to make the world tremble beneath it. A vortex of golden magical energy raised her hair around her as it illuminated their battlefield. "Nobody puts my big brother in danger without answering to me."_

 _._

 _"Who are you?" Tempester demanded in alarm._

 _._

 _Her illuminated figure lingered before him with the utmost confidence, her friends at her back watching uncertainly as she stood her ground against the demon; a woman once written off as a liability in pressured conflicts. "I am the apocalypse," she announced. "Kho'Misika N'Ahrai of the end of times." She was well aware that she was being watched from above by her future guild master. "My name is Neirah Ahrai, the Shadow of Fairy Tail... and I WILL be the end of you."_

 _._

 _"_ _It is you…" Tempester rumbled in apprehension. "The End-Light."_

 _._

 _Gajeel flinched apprehensively with the words he heard the demon murmur, his suspicions piquing._

 _._

 _"_ _Are you ready?" She snarled roughly. "To see just how ugly I can be?"_

 _._

* * *

 _._

'It can't… be…' Bickslow was frozen in place, his breathing laboured with disbelief as he watched her turn and look back over her shoulder at him. Despite the demonic looking woman approaching him as an ally, he wanted to flee. The overwhelming surge of power to pulse over the earth when Neirah entered a dragon force danced behind illuminated jade irises as his trembling gaze locked with hers.

.

He hated how uncomfortably near she grew to him, but his feet wouldn't carry him away. If he had fled from one of their own, he was certain suspicion would arise among their company; even _given_ the history he and Neirah had.

.

His breathing hitched as she reached out to him and slowly removed his helmet, her golden scales fading with her dragon force. Upon lowering the armour from his face and dropping it to the ground beside them, she stared up into his apprehensive crimson gaze so intently that it sent chills down his spine.

.

"You can see it, can't you?" She whispered tenderly. Her glossy sapphire gaze searched his expression intently.

.

His throat worked as he forced his head to bob in shallowly rapid nods.

.

She smiled up at him sadly, finally realising why he'd always been so hesitant around her. "You've always been able to see it, haven't you?"

.

Bickslow was moments from shaking his head before admitting that he'd always had his suspicions. It was true that in that single moment that they had worked together for the first time, the power of realisation was overwhelming and enough to cripple him with fear. Finally, he diverted his gaze from the intensity of hers and slowly nodded.

.

The first thing that he wanted to do when she fell forwards and rested her forehead against his chest was leap backwards and apologise for any infraction he may have done her. His timid reaction saw him remain still beneath her instead.

.

She closed her eyes, trying to deny her worrisome tears as she smiled and lingered exhaustedly with her brow to his chest. "Please don't tell Laxus…"

.

Bickslow shuddered when the small woman's consciousness started to fade with the settling of the presences beneath her skin. She watched her lose balance and start to slip to one side of him before his arms were coming around her and helping her steadily to the ground. "Ahw, crap. Why the hell does this keep happenin' to me?" He whined. He slowly examined the fading of power beneath the delicate woman's breast.

.

His first instinct was to promise her he'd keep his tongue behind his teeth for fear of her wrath, but when he watched a silently worrisome tear escape the corner of her sealed eye, he felt himself willing to comply. Their friends were swift in their approach so he didn't have a lot of time to ponder his decision while he supported her in his arms to keep her out of the bloody dirt. He shifted his gaze slowly over the earth before looking back at her calm expression and murmuring his reply before company grew too near. "Yeah… You got it…"

.

Bickslow flinched when he was joined by their companions. "Man, I know this looks bad, but I swear I didn't do it," he rattled out swiftly.

.

"Don't worry, child," Porlyusica assured him gently. "Neirah is prone to magic-related illnesses. It is one of the many costs she pays to possess such an incredible power."

.

"Porlyusica? How long have you been here?" Levy inquired quietly.

.

"As long as I care to be! I don't have to answer to you smelly brats!" The guild healer defended. The old lady turned to where Bickslow had yet to release Neirah into her custody. "What's the matter? You look like you've seen a ghost."

.

Bickslow flinched upright and banished such a suspicious thought. "Nope. I'm good," He rushed out certainly upon climbing to his feet. He dusted himself off, watching as Porlyusica fussed with Levy and Lucy by Neirah's side. Just as he had escaped one tense situation, another was quickly following when he turned to see Laxus lingering at his back. 'Not my day,' he thought bleakly.

.

"Is there somethin' I should know?"

.

"Man, it's totally not like that!" Bickslow defended. "Freaky demon lady needed a hand and-"

.

"That's not what I meant," Laxus rumbled sternly. He was sure that Bickslow knew _exactly_ what he was referring to. "You can't tell me you don't feel it too. When she comes out with that kind of power… It just comes out of nowhere."

.

Bickslow tried to remain ignorant. "Yeah, I just noticed. Pretty crazy for a kid that size, huh?"

.

"You know where it's comin' from, don't you?"

.

Bickslow stared back at one of his closest friends for a very long time, debating exposing Neirah's secrets to the father of her child. Her gentle pleas had put him in a very awkward situation, not just with his friends, but with the very guild they called home.

.

But it was the way she'd asked it of him, between trusted friends.

.

After a long and silent bout of contemplation, he sternly shook his head. "Notta clue, buddy…"

.

Laxus turned and looked out over their worrisome company. "It's funny, we spent all this time tryin' to dig up the roots of this thing and it took six rebellious Fairy Tail wizards to come bail us out. "

.

Bickslow snickered wickedly with his amusement. "Yep. I don't know about the others, but we didn't really ask the Master's permission to come after you guys either. We've probably got a storm all our own waitin' for us back at the guild."

.

Laxus' expression dimmed as he turned his gaze back to Bickslow's. "There are some things he… just doesn't need to know about this little stint."

.

Bickslow looked back at him knowingly and he couldn't have agreed more. "Porlyusica already told us how it was," he assured the worrisome man. "We've got ch'yer back buddy."

.

Laxus gave his friend a small smile before turning his gaze back to the woman laying on the ground with a gentle expression on her unconscious features. It was an expression of surrendered peace. So much had happened in the past week of his life that he didn't know if he was capable of processing it. In a way, he was glad that Neirah was ready for a long rest because, in truth, he needed some serious time to figure things out.

.

Memories stole him at the sight of her smiling back at him beneath his palm, dirty tear streaks on her bloodied face. To know that the whole time, that smile concealed life inside her that belonged to him, it was utterly devastating.

.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when Gajeel had finally managed to get a hold of him, his intense crimson glare piercing the lightning wizard maliciously. "I didn't get this out the first time, so listen up!" He roared impatiently. The impact forced an apprehensive shudder out of his target. "That kid means everythin' to me… and so help me… _if you hurt her_ … she's gonna look like a glittery fairy to what I have in store for your pompous ass…"

.

Laxus smiled back at him weakly, tipping his sly gaze to one side. "Gee, glad to know I have your blessing," he teased. He didn't expect his cool dig to initiate a rather humble expression out of the iron dragon.

.

"Nobody asked you to stand by the kid for this…"

.

"I know…"

.

"But ya did…"

.

"Yeah…"

.

"Yer alright by me, Sparky…"


	15. Purity and the White Rose

_**Purity and the White Rose**_

* * *

.

.

Nightmares… and the feeling of his once gentle touch wrapped tightly around her neck; that's all rest had to offer her. It was enough to stir her unpleasantly from her dreams. She had never been so happy to open her eyes to the dimly lit room around her. She stirred against the comforting presence of a mattress, the tingle of limbs once asleep rousing in her fingers and toes beneath white sheets. She took a deep breath, her chest trembling with her exhale, and her thoughts immediately turned to him.

.

The room was dark save for midnight's occasional glow spilling in through the hospital window between cloud cover so it was easier than she expected to open her eyes. She was anxious to do so, her senses clear and grateful for every nerve responding to her consciousness. It was over, and she was alive.

.

And so was he.

.

She was immediately overwhelmed by the flood of reality sinking into her consciousness and she immediately closed her eyes again, trying her hardest to keep from letting her tears catch the moonlight.

.

Ever since her birth, she had been fighting for her life against the Austalian's and their corruption. Until that moment that the aromatic presence of flowers filled her senses. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious, but it couldn't have been long if her brother wasn't by her side scolding her for scaring him again.

.

Small tears formed in the corner of her eyes as she smiled to the night. 'I'll never make you worry again,' she thought confidently. Like Levy had begged, her mother's magic had not come undone for her battle with Reku. Her friends had seen her through it.

.

They'd seen her home.

.

"Are you awake?"

.

Neirah's breath caught, a weak cough rattling her sore chest as her lungs expanded. "Mirajane?" Neirah narrowed her gaze and weakly dropped her head to one side against her pillow. She smiled back at the kind woman, grateful that even though night had overcome them, someone was by her side.

.

Would she ever be able to tell the sweet woman smiling back at her how much she'd missed her?

.

Neirah whimpered softly, and with Mira's aid, began to rise. While attempting to sit up on her bed, she recoiled with the piercing pain of being stuck with something sharp against the sheets. Neirah turned her head with a gentle gasp to face a familiar presence that she hadn't entirely expected to see by her bedside.

.

Mira responded with a sweet smile and welcoming giggle. "He hasn't left your side."

.

"Then… that means…"

.

"That's right," Mira whispered softly. "You're home."

.

Neirah turned and looked down to where Laxus was resting against the arms he'd folded between his head and her hospital bed.

.

"He didn't know what to do… so he brought you back here."

.

Neirah reached out and gently peeled Laxus' fingertips back from where they gently clutched a rose in his lax grip. "After all he's been through…" Her whisper was airy as she observed the gentle scratches the flower's thorns had given his palm. "And he stayed here… with me…"

.

"He told me everything…" Mira cooed sadly. The effort commanded Neirah's attention with her knowledge of the situation. "About Zade, the dragon… about the way he was turned against you. He blames himself. It didn't matter what I said, it always circled back to his weaknesses." She bowed her head solemnly, trying her hardest to keep her kind smile from fading. "I've never seen him so upset… not since we were kids. But as soon as he got here and saw you laying there resting, it's like it hit him all at once." Her smile was weak and tender as she joined Neirah's gaze where they watched him sleep. "There's something strange about watching him cry."

.

"It breaks my heart," Neirah whimpered lightly. She delicately slipped her fingers through his hair. "I shouldn't have let it go on for so long… I should have put an end to it sooner. I was just so afraid…" Neirah bowed her head in silent confession, unaware of Mira's knowing gaze smiling at her side. "When I first joined the guild… after my brother's disappearance… I had heard… terrible things. Things that my magic wouldn't ignore. It's still so hard for me to control… I didn't know-"

.

"Did they ever tell you how Natsu and your big brother were able to stop him?" Neirah turned her startled expression towards Mirajane as the woman looked down on their slumbering lightning dragon. "He tried to cast one of the first's spells called Fairy Law."

.

"I had heard," Neirah murmured gently. "A lot of people compare my infinite judgment spell to it."

.

"Did they tell you why it didn't work?"

.

Neirah looked at her expectantly, sure that no one had ever mentioned why the spell had actually failed. "I just assumed that Natsu had stopped him before he could cast it."

.

Mira smiled back at her reassuringly. "No, he was successful in casting it." She started solemnly in reminiscence, startling Neirah with the expulsion of the event's truth. "But law, unlike your judgment spell, targets those who the _caster_ sees as their enemy. Not just anyone who has darkness in their hearts." She laughed softly and tilted her head to one side. "He could throw a tantrum all he wanted, but he just couldn't hate a single one of us." Neirah blinked back at her with a warm flush in her cheeks as she absorbed the information she was offered. "Not even your big brother was affected and he was standing right next to him."

.

Neirah whirled around to face where Laxus remained still against the sheets, his breath even beneath all his bandages as he continued to clutch the flower he held. "Why… why didn't he tell me?" She articulated vaguely. "All this time… he always made himself out to be the villain…"

.

Mira tipped her gaze back to Laxus' discontented slumber. "He's pretty hard on himself," she assured her quietly. "He may hold his head high in a crowd, but when he's alone, he feels things like fear and regret just like the rest of us…"

.

"Well, what do you know," Neirah choked out in amusement. "The big brute's human after all…" Neirah sniffed back her tears with a gentle whimper, her sleepy smile hiding her hurt. "Gee Sparky… you weren't kidding when you said you needed a light," she teased.

.

The clouds in the sky that night started to shift, revealing the moon as being bright and full outside her window. Moments later, the room was igniting in diamond rays. As Neirah's eyes opened to offer tears and gratitude to her comrade, her heart sank to see the true origin of the beautiful scent guiding her to wake. Her sapphire gaze trembled when she saw the white room for what it really was. "Mira," she squeaked tenderly.

.

Mira sat back quietly with a heartwarming smile on her lips. "Hmhm, beautiful isn't it?" She whispered tenderly. "I don't think there is a single white flower left on the continent."

.

Neirah whimpered, drawing her fingers to her lips to conceal her gracious squeals. The walls were covered, the bed lined with flowers of all types, all of them the purest shades of silver she'd ever seen. "The guild…?"

.

"You would think with how many found their way here," Mira crooned breathlessly. She looked down on the other side of the bed to where Laxus slumbered restlessly against Neirah's hospital bed. "But it was just one."

.

Neirah looked down to where Laxus was lying, just as still and exhausted as she had been, completely ignorant to Mirajane telling his secrets. "No…"

.

"He'll try to tell you it wasn't him, but I think it's about time you two stopped hiding these things from each other," Mira crooned. She was unaware that the baby in Neirah's belly admitted that they had already done so. "He told me the story, of the time he picked you a white flower in Crocus and you turned it away."

.

* * *

.

 _Neirah tipped her head back and listened to the fuss Natsu and her brother were making on the balcony that she and Laxus had just escaped. It was cute, how they'd worried the two had fallen. "They can be pretty goofy when they want to be, can't they, Sparky?"_

 _._

 _Laxus didn't raise his gaze or his satisfied smirk to hear her admit one of her big brother's drawbacks. "When they want to be? Or is this default?"_

 _._

 _Neirah laughed, her hands smoothing her black silk dress over her curves restlessly. "Either way, Screwball's gonna flip on me if he finds out I let you walk me back to the hotel."_

 _._

 _"_ _It's not like he's gonna get back to the room and find us in bed together," he mocked. "We're staying at the same hotel. For all he knew, you could be walkin' me back."_

 _._

 _Neirah's cerulean gaze shone beneath Crocus' street lights as she turned and looked up at his confident demeanour. It always gave her the strength she needed to be brave. "Well, with Kairyn lurking around, you never know." She watched his expression immediately darken with bitter resentment._

 _._

 _"_ _And now you know why I'm here…"_

 _._

 _Neirah's brow creased sadly to think that he had had an ulterior motive for spending time with her that night. With a disappointed frown, she nervously slipped some loose hair back over her ear from where it had fallen out of her elegant braid during the course of the night. "O-oh… of course," she mewled awkwardly. "Strength in numbers." She flinched when he reached out and took her hand in his, not intimately, but sternly, demanding that she take pause._

 _._

 _"_ _Do you know what he wants with you?" Laxus encouraged firmly. "He's been all over the place since what happened with Karua."_

 _._

 _Neirah gently shook her head, denying that she had any knowledge. "He isn't with Marionette," she assured him softly. She tried to keep her thoughts from wandering to the fact that he still hadn't released her hand. She smiled tenderly and looked back at him. "Who knows, maybe he's the one my big brother should be worried about."_

 _._

 _Laxus flinched and gently released her hand again, a little colour making its way into his coarse features. "Well if that's true, it looks like that rusting scrap heap and I finally have somethin' in common…"_

 _._

 _She was almost disappointed when the hotel came into view and their journey, to a close. "It's ok… I don't think he means any harm," she assured him quietly. She reached out to lay her hand on the door of the modest inn. "He did help us when the dragons came through the Eclipse Gate… He wouldn't have done that if he was an enemy-"_

 _._

 _Neirah's breath caught as Laxus reached forwards and lightly capture her hand again before she'd stepped through the doors. This time, his pressure was gentle and deliberate as he encouraged her to take a step back into the night. At first, her trembling gaze was bashfully drawn to the way he looked back at her, kinder than she'd usually seen him towards her. With his encouragement, her gaze was redirected to where he offered her a wild white rose from between scratched up fingertips._

 _._

 _"_ _Here," he encouraged humbly. "If you take this back to the room with you, maybe your brother won't be so pissed off that I played the gentleman."_

 _._

 _Neirah looked down at the elegant white petals of the flower before her watering gaze shot to his. "W-where… where did you get that?"_

 _._

 _Laxus diverted his gaze sheepishly and threw his free hand behind his head. "Honest? I just pulled it out of the bushes a little ways back there," he admitted bashfully. "Here, just tak-"_

 _._

 _He was taken off guard by the way Neirah reached out and took the stem from his hand, gently laying hers against his fingertips. He watched her avoid the flower's presence as she started to heal the little cuts on his hands with what little power she'd had, cuts that he had received by digging the bloom out of the bush._

 _._

 _When she was done, she did something he really hadn't expected._

 _._

 _She passed the flower back to him with a pitiful little smile._

 _._

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she whispered gently. "But I can't accept it…"_

 _._

 _He stared at her in sheer bemusement for a very long moment. Noticing this, she continued with a more concise explanation._

 _._

 _She reached for the silver bracelet on her wrist with Fairy Tail's crest hanging from the fine chain. "My brother gave me this bracelet when I was thirteen… just before he was lost on the island for seven years. He told me that if I had it with me, I would never forget where to find him." She looked back at him sadly. "I was so afraid I would get it dirty, or break it, or lose it. Everything beautiful I hold… it just fades beneath the taint of a shadow…"_

 _._

 _He didn't know what to say. His fingers trembled around the thorny stem of the rose, his hands aching to reach out to her in a way he'd never had to fight before._

 _._

 _"_ _I'm sorry… I just… I need to settle things… with my past. Before I can even think about holding something so… pure…" She turned back towards him and smiled with the spill of gentle tears cascading over her rosy cheeks. "If my brother bugs you, I'll tell him nothing happened and that will be the end of it… don't worry, Sparky."_

 _._

 _He watched her enter the door, leaving him completely thrown off guard in front of the hotel. He opened his healed palm and looked down at the flower in his hand. As his fingers slowly closed back around the stem, he brushed his thumb over one of the petals, wondering if it's silky surface would compare to the feeling of his fingers sliding through her hair. He tipped the petals to his face in thought, his relaxed, narrowed gaze staring solemnly over the footstones at his feet while he contemplated following her. He shoved one hand in his pocket as the other lowered the flower upon his decision becoming concrete in his mind._

 _._

 _He didn't drop the flower as he took a walk through what remained of the city of Crocus. Instead, he carried it with him and let it remind him of the way blossoms emanated fragrantly from the gentle waves of her hair that he had the growing urge to hold against him every time he was faced with her tears. "When that time comes," he whispered gently into the night. "I'm gonna be there…"_

.

* * *

.

Neirah almost laughed recalling the ball that took place in the palace shortly after the Grand Magic Games. "It was a gag," she teased. She ran her fingers through Laxus' hair as she laughed off the memory. "He was walking me back to the hotel and I teased him by saying my brother would probably think it was a date and want to pick a fight for it."

.

Mira smiled tenderly as she heard the story retold from Neirah's perspective.

.

"He picked a white rose out of a bush and tried to give it to me… He said that maybe if he made it look like he was being a gentleman Gajeel wouldn't give us such a hard time about just… being together." Neirah's gaze dimmed with heartache to think that he could have held onto the memories for so long. "It wasn't personal," Neirah whispered as she looked down at her hands. "It was something… I didn't feel I deserved…" She turned to look back at Mirajane with glistening tears in her eyes. "It was like when my brother got me my bracelet. I only wore it on special occasions so I wouldn't get it dirty. Beautiful things… I just always seemed to ruin them with my tainted past. With my shadows…"

.

"He told me that too," Mirajane mewled. She handed her friend a handkerchief for her tears. "He thinks you're ready now..."

.

Neirah inhaled deeply, trying not to blubber too pathetically over the sentiment as she looked down and saw that her slumbering companion still had his scratched-up hand wrapped around the thorny stem of a particularly beautiful wild white rose. If she had thought there was any way that he could have preserved it over the last year, she may have thought it was the same one from that night.

.

"Your shadow isn't a taint, Neirah," Mirajane whispered upon climbing to her feet. "Your light is a blessing." She slowly stood and rested her palm on Neirah's shoulder. "Thanks for bringing him home…"

.

Neirah smiled gratefully and raised her hand to brush Mira's fingertips against her shoulder.

.

"Are you going to be ok?" Mira inquired apprehensively with a kind smile.

.

Neirah nodded appreciatively and turned her attention to Mirajane upon parting. "Yes," she assured her without hesitation. "Never better…"

.

Mira giggled sweetly with a grateful smile. "That's good to hear." Before she turned to walk away, she offered Laxus a parting glance. "Could you do me a favour?" She inquired humbly.

.

Neirah offered her a curious hum of inquiry to acknowledge her sentiment.

.

"When he wakes up… try to convince him that he's not the bad guy."

.

Neirah grinned warmly in response, sliding his bangs absently to one side. "I'll work on Sparky if you'll convince my brother and the rest of our guild."

.

Mira's musical laugh filled the room upon parting before she nodded her head in agreement. "Deal."

.

It was an amusing thought, offering Mirajane such a trade. She would probably just activate a Satan's Soul and scare them all into agreeing with her. She sighed softly with the closing of the door behind her, Neirah would have to use a far more delicate approach. She watched the woman leave to report her condition to the others before turning to let her tears fall. Once again, her past saw fit to torment her and leave her heartbroken in front of the man she'd grown to cherish

.

She gently shifted on the bed, so not to disturb him, and lay down with her head towards the foot of the bed. She tipped her brow against his folded arms and took his hand in hers. Tears welled in the back of her eyes as she held him against her. "Please don't let this destroy us," Neirah whispered gently while drawing her knees towards her chest. She drew her free hand to her breast to where her Fairy Tail guild mark had been reinstated as she slept. She closed her eyes and let its reassurance fill her with acceptance. Even after what she'd done, Master Makarov had still taken her back, and the slumbering man hunched over the bedside against her was probably, in part, to blame.

.

She rolled her half-drowned gaze around the overwhelming amounts of blooms filling the room but she had yet to touch a single one. She knew which one she wanted to hold first. She slowly raised her hand to the top of Laxus' head, gently running trembling fingertips through his hair as she forced a smile. "Laxus..."

.

All she'd ever dreamt about was a day when the fighting would end and the stain of her past would lift from her conscience. She could only ever imagine what it might feel like to fall asleep and dream of laughing, celebration, love and family. Ever since she was a child, there was always a shadow at her back: lies, deceit, remorse, regret… a tainted past.

.

'To think… I would feel this way about a silly flower.' She reached down and gently took Laxus' hand in hers, letting the bloom fall to the bed as she drew his palm to her breast. 'No,' she thought as a gentle smile found her lips. 'A silly boy.'

.

Laxus stirred through his exhaustion, slowly opening his eyes to watch as Neirah healed the scratches he'd received from the thorns. "Neirah?" He shifted lazily and drew his free hand forward to rub his sleepy eyes. "Man, where'd all these stupid flowers come from? You weren't _that_ sick."

.

Neirah beamed with happiness as she watched him deny any involvement in the act of gathering the purest of buds in the city. She'd play his game. "The guild must've thought otherwise…"

.

The room went silent as Neirah fought her tears, her heart bursting with delight. "But…" Laxus started clumsily. "I think you did say something once about waiting to touch one of these… until after you beat your past…" He looked back at her hopefully. "I'd say you beat it pretty damn hard…"

.

Neirah looked back at him with a smile and large, bubbly tears. "Are you sure?"

.

Laxus denied his flushed features from her sight as he picked up the flower she'd encouraged him to release in order to heal his wounds. "Pretty sure," he whispered before offering her the flower he'd been holding. "So… I guess while we're here…"

.

Neirah closed her eyes, the act forcing her tears to fall. She reached out to him and gently clawed at his face to encourage his nearness, and when he obeyed, she gently pressed her lips to his. After a long moment of holding him close, she laid one of her hands into his palm, her brow braced against him as she whimpered gratuitously. "Thank you…"

.

And trembling fingertips touched colourless velvet petals for the first time.

.

Laxus sat up and wrapped one arm strongly around her shoulders, clinging to her tightly with his relief. "I'm sorry," he wracked out nervously. "The things I said, and did." His words immediately silenced when she raised and pressed her lips to his ear, her breathing soft with surrender.

.

"Stop," she encouraged in a tender whisper. "Let the shadows of our past define us… and make us stronger…" She knew that he had made peace with his dragon slaying magic the moment he'd come to the battlefield ready to overwhelm the enemy with his unbridled rage; a rage that he was in complete control of. He had come just as far in their journey as she had. But when she considered their battle over Zade's manipulation of him, her heart sank and her gaze followed his to where he was caught guiltily peeking at her flat tummy. She smiled and rested her hand delicately against the soul slumbering inside her. "We have smaller things to worry about…"

.

Laxus reached out and took her face between both of his hands, his fingers sweeping through her hair to clutch her close to him. "I don't deserve you," he muttered bleakly. He knew he didn't. But his heart raced all the same as he pressed his lips to hers.

.

She smiled against their kiss before joining their brows and holding her first flower up between their faces. "You're probably right," she whispered tenderly through her impish little smirk. "But I'm yours now…" Her cheeks coloured as she took his hand and guided it beneath hers to where it could rest on her flat tummy. "If you'll have us, that is…"

.

At first, he wanted to be furious that she'd even consider him being anything but responsible for his actions, but the fact that she would lovingly give him the choice to be anything but what she expected melted his heart. "Who am I to deny the will of an old lizard…?" He teased, smiling back at her as he swept the petals of her flower from between them. "Fate and what not…"

.

"God, I fell hard for you," she mewled weakly. She dropped her arms around his shoulders and just silently embraced him. His touch, his scent, everything about his subtle presence comforted her.

.

He clutched the back of her head tight to his chest beneath his palm, fingers absently fondling her soft sakura-scented roots. "I should hope so, I put a hell of a lot of effort into turnin' your head."

.

She pulled back and gently kissed his cheek. "Well, you've got my attention now, Prince," she swooned. "It's kind of exciting when I stop to think that you seem to get more charming as the years go by…"

.

"You think so?" He gently stroked her hair from her face.

.

"I'm pretty sure."

.

He smiled and pressed a gentle kiss to her soft lips, holding the moment for a deep, languid breath. "I love you, Neirah," he whispered huskily. "And when I figure out a way to let you know just how much, you'll be the first to know."

.

She smiled in his arms and held him close in the diamond moonlight. "I'll be waiting."

.

* * *

.

A sense of relief and freedom washed away the pains of past confrontation as Neirah's fingertips broke the water's surface in her exquisitely timed swan dive into the deep end of the guild hall's pool. It was good to have the weight of the Fairy Tail crest back above her heart where it belonged, and in the brilliant shade of her father's legacy. The golden dragon had returned more certain than ever; and finally, at peace with her horrid past.

.

She let her sorrows wash away with the beat of gentle water flow around her; her contented expression relaxed as she weaved her lean figure through imaginary underwater obstacles. Even if the days were getting colder, she wanted to enjoy her swimsuit body while it lasted. What better way to do that then celebrate Infinity Dragon's return with her family, her friends, and the new love in her life; yes. She slowly opened her eyes and looked towards the rays of sun breaking the glittering of the stagnant water's surface. She was finally at peace-

.

Well, that was, until Natsu's less-than-elegant cannonball was plummeting towards her in a burst of brilliant flame. Her eyes widened as she scrambled through the water with puffed cheeks. She rocked with the roll of waves that Natsu had left in his wake during her retreat and finally managed to pop her head up through the centre of an inner tube that had been spared his descent.

.

She huffed out an exasperated breath as she surveyed the commotion that had claimed her once peaceful poolside. She diverted her attention grimly to blow bubbles, her face narrowly beneath the water's surface. "Gee, we weren't gone that long," she grumbled.

.

"Obviously long enough that you seem to have forgotten what an egghead Natsu is," Cana mused from a nearby patio chair.

.

"Yes, Shadow," Juvia crooned affectionately. She drew Neirah's barely exposed face into her bosom. "We missed you so much and worried sick over your safe return."

.

Neirah struggled weakly against Juvia's flushed features.

.

"Yea, yea what she said," Cana added with the absent dismissal of sentimentality by the wave of her hand. "We knew you guys would kick ass."

.

"Juvia, my sweet darling dew drop?" Neirah mewled lifelessly. "We don't need the pool level to rise so how about we dry those tears?" Her plea was breathless and her strength of struggle fading in each passing moment. "Not suffocating me with your love may also be something to consider."

.

"Oh, come on, Neirah!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly while joining Cana's side. "You guys were gone for a long time! It just wasn't the same!" Neirah smiled back at the blonde as she stretched languidly out over her lounge. "It's only fair for Juvia to have missed her sister."

.

"Come to think of it, it had grown awfully quiet without your brother here to butt heads with Natsu," Erza added. She sported an elegant two-piece on her inflatable lounge that bounced about the lazy water flow. She tipped her shades up as she swept her long ponytail out of her face. "It's nice to see things are right back to normal," she concluded with a sweet smile.

.

"Yo Lucy! Quit hoggin' all the sun and come swim with us!" Natsu demanded. He leapt over Neirah and Erza towards the sunbathing celestial wizard. The two women watched he and Happy sail over them, sporting bleak expectations for what was to come.

.

"Aye!" Happy demanded in the moment Natsu took a hold of Lucy to drag her off her perch. "This _is_ a party!"

.

"Ah! Nooo! Cold! You guys are cold!" Lucy demanded.

.

Neirah blinked back at the spectacle expectantly as Lucy's nails raked over the once clear surface of the chair. "Normal indeed," she chirped as Erza nodded in agreement next to her.

.

"WAHHH! I DON'T LIKE NORMAL!" Lucy wailed as she sailed through the air at Natsu's command.

.

He stared over the edge of the pool with his hands on his hips, a proud grin crossing his eccentric features. "Wicked! That cannonball was even better than mine!" He mused. "Good job, Lucy!"

.

"Probably all the extra weight," Happy teased.

.

Lucy surfaced with a boiling gasp as she glared back at them, fangs drawn. "I am _NOT_ fat!" She raged bitterly.

.

"Nah, but I got points for style, right happy?"

.

"Aye, sir!"

.

"Hey! What's the big idea huckin' chicks at me, Salamander!?" Gajeel bellowed angrily from where he'd been indulging Levy and Pantherlily in a tame ball game. He picked up Lucy in his free hand and threw her back to the deep end of the pool with another squealing splash.

.

Lucy surfaced once more with an infuriated gasp. "I am not a beach ball!" She wailed in tears as she struggled towards the poolside.

.

"Oh! I got it!" Natsu thrust the butt of his fist into his open palm. Lucy blew a hot stream of bubbles as she glared at the boys ignoring her wrath. "Let's light her on fire next time!"

.

"Great idea, Natsu!"

.

"YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!" Lucy fumed. Before she could continue and escape her watery prison, flames were blotting out the sun towards her with Natsu's excited call.

.

"Cannonball!"

.

Neirah and Erza's inner tubes rocked in his wake, their ears ringing with the cries of the rest of the guild members affected by Natsu's flailing. "You know, come to think of it…" Neirah bumped against the poolside next to Juvia's submerged toes. "If Natsu keeps this up, we just might have to raise the pool level."

.

"Tsk, big surprise there."

.

Neirah kicked off the pool wall and spun around with a catch in her breath. In her mind, she ran into her prince's open arms with rays of sunlight bathing a romantic encounter. In reality, her elated greeting was met by Lucy's bottom pushing her down through the centre of the inner tube she was scooting around in.

.

"WOULD YOU STOP THROWING ME!?" Lucy wailed as she tried to pry herself out of the floating device.

.

"Here I thought it was a game," Gray added dourly.

.

Neirah gasped for air as she swam out from around her inner tube towards Juvia's side, but the woman's presence far from comforted her. "How dare that bimbo touch Juvia's beloved Gray?!" She snarled vindictively, cracking the poolside wall beneath her flexing fingertips.

.

"He was the one who threw ME!" Lucy defended in panic.

.

"Eep!" Neirah squeaked, dodging hotspots in the water. "Juvia, my cascade queen, you're boiling the water," she panted out while trying to avoid the hot springs around Juvia's stirring toes. She quickly scrambled up out of the pool with a breathless wheeze. "Ah yes…" Neirah breathed out gently. "Home, sweet home." She tipped her gaze to where she finally had the option of indulging in her fantasies.

.

"Tell me, why'd we come back again?"

.

Neirah smiled warmly as she reached out and took the hand Laxus had extended her way. He helped her stand, diverting his unimpressed gaze as she laughed at the thought. "I thought you had _other things to do today_ ," she crooned mischievously. "Get a little jealous of the other men in the guild ogling your woman?"

.

Laxus turned away with a defiant pout, colour in his cheeks for the slightest truth in her bold statement. Luckily, Evergreen was taking the pressure off him with her own dance around the subject.

.

"Why on earth would they ogle such a drab when there is a true fairy in their pres-" Evergreen let out a shrill squeal as she was struck in the face with Neirah's signature fly swatter. After a moment of letting the strike sink in, she adjusted her glasses with a furious wail. "How do you even still have that confounded thing?!"

.

Neirah cocked her hip to one side impishly, holding the flyswatter to the adjacent on display. "Nostalgia, Flutterbug," she crooned.

.

"And the battle between dragons and fairies ensues…" Freed murmured in slight amusement.

.

"Still glad they hooked up?"

.

Evergreen's face warmed with the expulsion of her earlier sentiment as Bickslow exposed it. Her flushed features narrowed slyly to the side as she opened her hand to Neirah. "Can I borrow that for a second?"

.

"By all means."

.

Freed sighed as Evergreen accepted Neirah's fly swatter to chase Bickslow off with it. "Well, it is a party in honour of Infinity Dragon's return," he started slowly. "I told him it wouldn't be proper for him to miss it."

.

"Man do you guys really have nothin' better to do than come up with theories of why I'm here?" Laxus hissed out impatiently. "I'm here, alright? Let's just leave it at that."

.

Neirah took her fingers and laced them with his. "Somebody's grumpy." She smoothed her hands over the t-shirt he was wearing with his swim shorts. "Aren't you happy to be home?"

.

"RAGH! PAWS OFF MY KID SISTER, PAL!" Gajeel rumbled out a faint cry of agony as he struck an enchantment Freed had laid in preparation for the confrontation; the three expecting resistance not even sparing the heap of iron slayer a glance.

.

"Does that answer your question?" Laxus rumbled dismally.

.

"Impressive," Neirah complimented while looking down at her infuriated brother.

.

"Quick on your feet, as always," Laxus agreed.

.

Gajeel leapt to his feet and threw his fist out defiantly. "Listen here, blondie! Just 'cause you two are an item now doesn't mean you gotta rain on us with all this lovey-dovey crap!" He demanded furiously. Although, if he had to admit, there wasn't much there for public displays of affection. "And she ain't the boss anymore so what I say matters now!"

.

Neirah sighed glumly to herself and dropped her head. "It didn't matter before, it didn't matter when I was master and it _certainly_ doesn't matter now," she assured him swiftly.

.

"I think it's rather sweet," Juvia cooed from nearby.

.

"Yeah," Cana agreed bluntly. She shifted her gaze to where Natsu and Gray were tugging on each other's faces. "This place could use a little love if you ask me."

.

"Well ain't nobody askin' you!" Gajeel raged.

.

"Oh!" Juvia gasped in elation. "Now that it has become official, Juvia's darling prince and she will have somebody to double date!"

.

"You ain't helpin'!" Gajeel fumed while stomping his foot on the ground.

.

"Yeah and I really don't see those two enjoying a double date…" Cana added grimly. She silently pictured the viciously awkward silence between Gray and Laxus as Neirah and Juvia chatted each other's ears off.

.

"Just relax, would you?" Laxus breathed out edgily upon turning to walk away. The pressure of being present in a guild full of people who had no idea of what he'd done was becoming too much to bear. "Just be thankful we're all here and shut up about it."

.

Neirah's brow furrowed sadly as she watched him walk away. She could tell by his tone and the way he moved that he was sulking. He had still felt terrible about the things he'd done, and like she had come to learn about her masochistic sweetheart, if he wasn't suffering redemption for his transgressions, he was brooding.

.

"Well, that was strange," Freed murmured softly after taking Neirah's side. "But perhaps I don't know all of what Infinity Dragon faced when you were gone."

.

Neirah sighed as she dropped her head in defeat. "That's my big brooding hypocrite for you…"

.

"Hey! Quit mopin' around an-"

.

With a determined war cry, Neirah drew back and thrust her fist up underneath her brother's jaw, sending him sailing back into the pool between Levy and Pantherlily.

.

"Yo! Shads got good distance on that hit!" Natsu exclaimed in excitement. "Lucy! Come on! I gotta beat her!"

.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

.

Gajeel surfaced sulkily with a bitter curse.

.

"I told you not to say anything," the floating ebony cat murmured against the straw of his beverage.

.

"I'd hate to see how those three managed a guild together," Levy purred puckishly. She coddled the beach ball they'd been playing with as she watched Gajeel curse his way towards them.

.

Pantherlily released the straw he'd been sucking on with a soft sigh. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

.

* * *

.

Neirah joined Laxus in the shade not long after, approaching his secluded hideaway with a drink in either hand. She placed herself next to him and folded one leg over her other, offering him one of the drinks she had retrieved.

.

"Thanks," he murmured shortly.

.

"Alright, now spill," Neirah purred lightly at his side. She sucked on the straw of her fruit smoothie, amused that they no longer shared their virginity. Leaving alcohol out of her diet wasn't going to be difficult for her because she was never really interested in it, to begin with. Not to mention, it would probably be safer for the baby if she wasn't trying to climb up onto anymore roofs. "What's on your mind, Prince?"

.

"It's nothing," he sighed out languidly.

.

Neirah twisted her nose up cheekily with the thought. "Oh good," she concluded. She drew his attention as she climbed to her feet. "If it's nothing, it shouldn't stop you from having a good time." He caught his breath as she set her half-finished drink on the grass at her feet. She moved in front of him and held his head to her chest for a moment, a gentle smile on her lips as she kissed the top of his head. "Just remember, you're a lot cuter when you smile," she whispered upon parting. He watched her walk away, his heart racing with his inner turmoil. He caught his breath and looked down at his drink with an exhausted sigh.

.

* * *

.

 _"If only I had some of that cool confidence," she mused affectionately. The sentiment encouraged him to smile humbly to himself. "You really are somethin' else, Sparky. You're so strong... You always know just what to say to make me believe again."_

 _._

 _"You don't say…"_

 _._

 _"_ _Yep… Just like the evening that you told me about Tenrou Island; I was terrified. I couldn't have been happier, but even after I knew that everyone was ok, I was too afraid to go to them. It had been so long. I didn't know what to do or say… I was scared…" She shifted her weight self-consciously and rolled the wine absently around in her glass as she spoke, overlooking the balcony to avoid eye contact. "But then I thought about how cool and collected you were when you told me. You made that seven years seem like no big deal, and suddenly, I felt silly for all the tears I cried."_

 _._

 _"_ _You don't need to feel bad for missing your brother," he murmured softly upon watching the sheen of tears gloss her dark eyes. "Even if he is a hard-headed jerk." He was relieved when a soft smile found her lips, no matter how sad it still looked._

 _._

 _"_ _See? Even now after what we've all just been through, you talk like nothing happened. You're so brave…"_

.

* * *

.

A small grin curled his lips as he closed his eyes and dropped his head, both hands wrapped around his drink. "We really have come full circle, haven't we?" He murmured gently to himself.

.

* * *

.

"Aw c'mon, Lev! If we're havin' a girl throwin' contest it'd be a cinch to win wit-"

.

"You are _NOT_ throwing me!" Levy wailed as she thrashed about in his grip. She reached out and quickly scribbled in the air with her finger. "Solid Script! Anchor!"

.

Gajeel blinked a couple times before he felt the weight on his ankle dragging him under the water.

.

"That was a little harsh," Pantherlily mumbled grimly as he sceptically watched bubbles stop surfacing in the water.

.

Levy snorted derivatively and folded her arms across her chest. "Well, Lu may not stick up for herself, but there's no way I'm going to be someone's frisbee," she stated matter-of-factly.

.

The two flinched with Gajeel's breathless resurface, calmly observing the flailing of the bitter iron dragon as he postured in front of the tiny woman. "Listen up, shrimp! Yer lucky that thing was made outta metal!"

.

"If I wanted to drown you, I would have," she cautioned confidently. "That was a warning that I'm not a pool toy." Shivers skittered along Levy's spine as Gajeel glared down at her with a maniacal grin.

.

"Is that so?" He snarled with intent. "We'll just have ta see abo-"

.

"Got'ya!" Levy and Pantherlily jumped back as Neirah burst from the water behind her big brother and leapt onto his back. She dropped her hands around his neck, her thighs wrapping around his waist. "Don't worry, my fair lady!" She mocked in baritone. She was desperate to cling to her frantic brother as he flailed in attempts to shoo her off him. "I'll save you from this foul beast!"

.

"Hey! I ain't foul!" Gajeel raged rampantly.

.

Levy drew her fist to her lips with a gentle giggle. "My handsome prince!" She crooned whimsically before extending her fingertips in prose.

.

Pantherlily cocked a brow with his amusement towards her statement. "Really? Shadow possesses the most womanly body here."

.

Levy paled covering her modest chest defensively. "You could have gone with 'she's a dragon too'," she grumbled through her embarrassed pout.

.

Neirah smiled and leant her head against Gajeel's shoulder with a warm smile. "Just like old times, huh, Screwball?" She mewled her reminiscence for her younger days when she'd torment him in a similar manner. A wicked grin curled her lips as she tightened her grip on his waist to go hands-free. "'Cept now, I don't have to worry about you tryin' to drown me," she chirped eccentrically. She took a handful of her chest and pressed her breasts together against the back of his neck. "'Cause thanks to these puppies, I float!"

.

"Knock it off!" He roared. He continued to thrash about through his humiliated blushing. "What brain dead moron gave you alcohol anyways?!" They turned for a brief and silent moment to watch Mirajane run from the poolside in tears. "Awe, come on!" He panicked with guilt. "I didn't mean it like that!" He had immediately felt bad for Mira's insult when he stopped to consider that Neirah hadn't been drinking at all. Even if she was a terrible lightweight, he expected with recent developments that she would be avoiding alcohol altogether.

.

"Yeehaw!" Neirah exclaimed with excitement. "And round two! Shadow vs Screwball!"

.

"That's it, you little brat!" He demanded feverishly. "Rodeo's OVER!"

.

Neirah let out a shrill squeal as he grabbed a hold of her arms and raked her right over his head, tossing her across the pool dismissively.

.

"Gee Lucy, Shads is so much tinier than you. I can't get your big butt unstuck!" Natsu turned his head from where he was trying to pull Lucy's butt out of Neirah's inner tube. "Whoa! Look how far Gajeel threw Shadow!"

.

"Hah! Beat that Salamander!" Gajeel razzed from across the pool. "S'Yer girl made outta lead?!"

.

"I am _RIGHT_ here!" Lucy defended furiously.

.

"That's not fair!" Natsu demanded, shaking his fist at the triumphant iron dragon slayer. "Shadow only weighs like half as much as Lucy!"

.

For the time being, at least.

.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Lucy demanded in outrage. "Her chest alone weighs more than me!"

.

"Man, get a life, you guys," Gray murmured nonchalantly. He flinched in panic when Juvia formed herself from the very pool water right in front of him, his retreat spilling his drink at his side. "Geez don't DO that!"

.

"My darling Gray, Juvia is ready to be thrown!"

.

"I'm not throwin' you!" He paled as he watched her fade into her tears, becoming one with the water once more.

.

"Oh, my beloved… Always so cold."

.

"Hey! What the heck are you doin' in there anyway!?"

.

Neirah surfaced with a gasping breath, her defiant pout curled to one side as she glared back at her brother on approach.

.

"I still think I coulda done better with Levy," Gajeel rumbled strategically.

.

"Indeed," Pantherlily concurred. "Shadow certainly went far but with such a heavy chest, she dropped rather suddenly."

.

Gajeel nodded his head alongside the floating feline in agreement.

.

"Do you guys have any idea how perverted you sound right now?" Levy groaned.

.

"Check it out, automatic reload," Gajeel snickered sinisterly. He glared down triumphantly at his little sister with malicious intent as she putted towards them like a crocodile stalking prey.

.

"Sounds like you're ready for round three," Neirah crooned devilishly. She glared at her big brother nose-to-nose. "Need I remind you that I'm part water dragon? I will not be bested by a sinker."

.

"Oh yeah?!"

.

"Yea!-EEP!"

.

Gajeel paled when the nose connecting with his was replaced with the inked chest of her newly publicised boyfriend. He slowly raised his gaze to where Laxus had decided to join their conversation, a recovering Neirah hoisted up on his shoulders. "Quit pickin' on the better half of Team Lightning," Laxus rumbled gruffly in warning.

.

Gajeel folded his arms and glared back at the man with his challenge. "What a lame team name," he sassed. "Creative. Think of it yerself?"

.

Neirah and Laxus both flinched worrisomely with the sound of Mirajane's cries as she fled the poolside with embarrassment for the insult Gajeel had offered a second time.

.

"Oh, come on! How am I supposed to know these things?!"

.

"I think it's a fine name, Mira!" Neirah called out to her. She was suddenly glad that she and Laxus hadn't told Mira that they officially reconsidered their team name to be Heaven's Rain while they were away.

.

"Not important," Laxus demanded.

.

"Then what is?" Gajeel pried vindictively.

.

"You're messin' with the wrong team," Laxus growled impatiently. "And since your kid sister ain't 'Master' of our little rebel faction anymore, that means you're fair game again."

.

Neirah dropped her chin onto Laxus' head in warning. "Careful, Sparky, that's still my big brother."

.

Laxus scoffed shooing her concern away from where she lingered by his brow. "Yeah, a brother that just used you as a lawn dart."

.

"We're in the water, genius," Gajeel growled.

.

"Point being; now I gotta kick your ass."

.

"Wait, what?!" Gajeel, Lily and Levy panicked simultaneously.

.

"Let's not do anything rash!" Levy demanded weakly, shaking her palms to either side of her.

.

"Hold on!" Neirah chimed in. "I was the one he pitched, I wanna piece of him too!"

.

"You ain't helpin'!" Gajeel demanded unconfidently.

.

"Fine," Laxus agreed. He reached out to link his hand with hers and he turned to look up at her with a small smile. "We'll take 'im as a team."

.

"Not fair!" Gajeel demanded in outrage. "Two against one is cheatin'."

.

"To be honest, either _one_ of them against you puts them at an advantage." Pantherlily was swished to the side by the dispersing of the water as Levy immersed herself from the poolside.

.

"But two on two helps to even the odds!" Levy demanded with a fist pump at Gajeel's side. Gajeel grunted softly in acknowledgement as she dropped her finger in line with Neirah and Laxus. "We'll take you on!"

.

"We will?"

.

"Of course we will!" Levy encouraged him enthusiastically. "We're a team too, right?"

.

Gajeel's expression lit up as he helped Levy onto his shoulders with a defiant laugh. "Hell yeah! Team…" He looked up towards Levy before shaking his head and turning his attention back to Laxus. "Team somethin'-better-than-you is gonna kick ass!"

.

"Tsk, not if I have anythin' to say about it," Laxus rumbled softly. He flinched when Neirah curled over him again, raking her fingers through his damp bangs as she kissed his brow.

.

"Feelin' better, Sparky?"

.

He closed his eyes and kissed her inner thigh with a grateful smile. "Yeah, thanks," he murmured delicately against her wet flesh.

.

"It's so weird to see those four getting along," Cana murmured softly from beneath her shady perch. She took a large sip of her drink before smiling in observation of their antics. "Infinity Dragon must've given them hell to have 'em come together like that."

.

Lucy smiled bashfully to herself, knowing that the stories hadn't quite made it around to many of the guild members yet. "Yeah… it must have," she mused warmly. "I'm just glad they're all back home."

.

"Speaking of which," Cana hummed whimsically. "Who's the china doll they brought back with them?"

.

"Huh?" Lucy turned to face the woman that Cana directed her attention to, her expression dropping in alarm. "NAH! Oh yeah, I forgot to make introductions!"

.

"Yo Slippy, what's up!?" Natsu demanded upon throwing his open palm into Wavebreak's.

.

Damion turned from where he was by Arihana's side, a welcoming smile on his lips. "I was wondering where all the smoke was comin' from but I didn't know they were puttin' fires out in the pool! What's shakin' little man?"

.

"Oh, y'know, just havin' a good ol' fashioned Fairy Tail girl throwin' contest," Natsu crooned invitingly.

.

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

.

"You in?!"

.

"Only if you're cool with meltin' my totally radical bod when my baby freezes it solid," Damion admitted before striking a rather dignified pose.

.

Arihana just stared bashfully into space as Damion shook her by her shoulders.

.

"Master Kairyn would have never allowed such behaviour in our guild," she whispered gently. It was easy to tell that she was slightly intimidated by their new guildmates.

.

"Yeah, well we're rockin' F.T pride these days," Damion exclaimed. He thrust his thumb towards the mark on his bare lower back centred just above his swim trunks. "If we're gonna fit in, I guess we're just gonna have to get a little wild."

.

"Now you're talkin'!" Natsu crooned in delight.

.

"Surfer boy's kinda cute," Cana mused.

.

"Yep. We might as well just call this guild _Dragon_ Tail."

.

"Well, we couldn't just turn them away," Erza started when joining the other girls. Erza turned to where Gray and Arihana were comparing ice magic while Juvia was trying to see their interactions past where Damion was conversing with her about their water magic. "They followed their master until the end, and with the disbanding of Infinity Dragon, they had nowhere else to go."

.

Mira joined Erza with a reassuring smile. "They've never had a chance to live for something other than another's purpose," she assured them. "They just want to fit in." Mira smiled as she watched Levy trying to scramble to avoid Neirah's touch, inadvertently blinding her partner by pushing his headband down into his eyes.

.

"Damn it, Lev, I can't see!"

.

"That's good, you don't want to!" She clamoured to assure him.

.

"Guys do we really have to play with electricity in the pool!?" Wendy whimpered softly, paddling away as fast as she could with her pool noodle.

.

"How foolish!" Carla chimed in from the poolside where she stood as a lifeguard on duty.

.

Neirah's wicked expression glowed as sparks crawled between the fingertips she'd entwined with Laxus'. "Well, what'd you expect when you stood against the lightning?"

.

Gajeel flailed his arms around in the water, trying to surface from where Laxus held his head under. "Come on, I don't even need magic for this."

.

"Hey! That looks manly!" Elfman demanded. He took Lisanna by surprise when he hoisted his little sister onto his shoulders. "Come on, Lisanna! Let's get in there and give 'em a hand."

.

"Oh!" Lisanna giggled softly. "Sure thing, big brother!"

.

Laxus opened one eye to shift his gaze towards their new challengers. "Two teams on one?"

.

Neirah folded her arms atop Laxus' head and hummed her approval. "We've had worse odds."

.

"We don't need help-" Levy flinched on top of Gajeel's shoulders as his head was thrust back under the water's surface once more, interrupting his denial.

.

" _Sure_ you don't, tough guy," Laxus droned.

.

"Drinks anyone?" Mirajane cooed softly. She distracted their proceedings with her tray of offerings.

.

"I gotta free hand," Laxus started. He was interrupted by the lacing of Neirah's fingers with the hand he'd reached out to Mirajane.

.

"No, you don't, Sparky," she murmured seductively. She took the drink he was reaching for as Laxus helped her climb from on top of his shoulders. She looked back at him expectantly and puckered her lips, only surrendering the drink she'd stolen after she'd received a tender peck on her pout. "You've got your hands full with a little nightmare like me."

.

"He deserves it if you ask me!" Gajeel growled through hacking coughs on the poolside.

.

Levy patted his back as he choked up water, her smile sincere as she looked back at them. "Don't mind him, he's just a sore loser."

.

Neirah caught the slightest hint of uncertainty in Laxus' expression before she was taking the hand of his that she held and laying it on the side of her neck. "It's a good thing you've got big hands to fill," she whispered affectionately. She was delighted when she'd manage to coax a small smile from him, but like most tender moments in Fairy Tail, they never seemed to last.

.

"GIRL FIGHT!" Natsu announced, throwing Lucy back into the pool in between Neirah and Laxus.

.

"Why us?" Laxus rumbled grimly. "Always us."

.

Lucy surfaced with a gasp. "Don't look at me?! It's his faul- EEP!" Lucy screeched. She dog paddled as fast as she could away from where Natsu leapt into the water after her with Laxus and Neirah's retreating step. "Why _you_?

.

WHY MEEE!?"

.

* * *

.

"It seems everything has returned to normal," Porlyusica murmured softly at Master Makarov's side. "Take that as you will, considering what _normal_ dictates within these rowdy halls."

.

Makarov sighed quietly as he looked out over the courtyard. Sitting in the sun away from the disorderly poolside, Laxus and Neirah had isolated themselves. Neirah had her head resting in his lap as he stroked her hair back from her brow, her smile heartwarming as she beamed back at him. All the while, his second hand had slipped beneath hers against her abdomen.

.

Watching Makarov eye the young couple intently, Porlyusica was speaking again. "You know... you might've had a better chance at keeping them apart if you hadn't of told them that they couldn't be together."

.

Makarov turned to face the woman's gentle smile, confused as to where her amusement for the situation was coming from. "This is not a laughing matter," Makarov informed her cautiously. "You know as well as I do what haunts that girl. If war wasn't knocking on our doorstep, if Laxus wasn't so taken by her-"

.

"Does that look like a woman capable of destroying worlds?"

.

Makarov silently turned and looked to where Neirah smiled back at his grandson, tender care in every touch as they laid beneath the sun like they were the only ones.

.

"Let them have each other," Porlyusica encouraged him on her rise. She smiled when Makarov refused to lift his tired gaze from the quiet embrace; carefully observing Neirah's delighted features brighten to be approached by a jolly old fisherman and his granddaughter. They may have had scars all over their tormented bodies, but each of them drew breath because of the dragon's they embraced. "It may be all they need."


	16. When You Say Home

**When You Say Home**

* * *

.

.

There was something about the feeling of taking on her first job as a reinstated Fairy Tail wizard, even if it was to fulfil a promise to Infinity Dragon's infiltration specialist. Damion and Arihana were by her side as they crossed Magnolia's bustling streets towards the East Forest, her youthful looking Edolas counterpart on their heels.

.

"This feels totally bizarre," Damion drawled hesitantly. "Walkin' through a town in broad daylight an' nobody's firin' at us…"

.

Neirah laughed off his concern. "I wouldn't get too used to it," she purred affectionately. She delighted that they could finally taste that sort of freedom. "The only people who ever come after Fairy Tail are the Magic Council and the bad guys."

.

"Ok cool," Damion nodded in casual acceptance. "So pretty much everyone. That's good. Easy street was startin' to freak me out."

.

Arihana held her closed hand to her lips to stifle her giggling. "In a way, I am glad," Arihana mused as she reached out to take her lover's hand. "Damion picks up some strange pastimes when he is bored."

.

Neirah snickered as Damion's defence rose above Arihana's delighted giggles.

.

"Come on! They ain't that strange!"

.

"Oh really? So-"

.

"Shushshsh! Not in front of my pals, woman!"

.

"Guys!" Neirah announced while slipping past city limits. She turned over her shoulder to face them with a laugh. "We're on a job, remember?"

.

Arihana's curious pout curled to one side. "That was something I was meaning to ask you, Empress. We've left claiming we will be returning Neirah to her home, but you haven't given us time to prepare for the journey?"

.

Neirah smiled tenderly when she looked down to where a small vision of herself stared back at her doubtfully. "That's because… we don't have far to go…"

.

"Say wha?!"

.

"Empress… you know where Master Kairyn's rift is?!"

.

Neirah beamed down at her reflection as the girl's features lit up hopefully. "Levy and I did some theorising at the party this afternoon and came up with a pretty strong lead. When he travelled alone, Kairyn always seemed to hover around Magnolia's city. The couple times I had to approach him before joining his guild, he was in the East Forest." She turned her nose to the frosty air as the sun began to set on their time as a team. "It was so strange. Kairyn was elusive, you could only find him if he wanted to be found, yet he was always right here…"

.

Neirah continued on her path, her support team at her back for one last mission. "When Levy looked into the possibilities, she found out that nearby, there was an area that seemed to have a vacuum effect on magical activity. It turns out that it was happening because Edolas no longer possesses magic. The rift remaining open is entirely reliant upon the magic of our world sustaining it."

.

"An' you know where it is?" Damion inquired anxiously.

.

Neirah gave a confident nod. "I'm pretty sure Levy and I pinpointed its location." Her confidence faltered subtly as she continued. "There is only one thing I'm concerned about…" Neirah didn't raise her gaze to the alarm in her company's expressions. "I'm worried that Kairyn had been feeding the rift in order to sustain it, otherwise, it doesn't make sense that it didn't close up with the others…" She spared their humbled gazes a glance. "But Kairyn fell months ago… and that means there was nobody here to feed the rift." Neirah's heart sank to see her Edolas friend's hands start to tremble as she clutched what few belongings she had with her, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.

.

"I'm afraid that isn't entirely true."

.

Neirah's eyes widened as she turned to look over her shoulder to where Jellal had spoken, Meredy close to his side. "Jellal? Your timing is suspiciously mystifying, as usual."

.

Meredy offered Neirah a warm smile. "It comes with Crime Sorciére's mark," she teased. "It's been a while."

.

Damion offered the woman a broad and goofy grin. "Yep, I think I like it better when we're playing for the good guys."

.

"Crime Sorciére worked closely with Infinity Dragon's original roster. As aggressive in his station as Kairyn was, we seemed to have a certain understanding of each other. I suspect it is at least, in part, because he came to Earthland with my Edolas counterpart." Jellal raised his gaze confidently. "He often made mention of one day returning. He made it very clear that he would see both he and Neirah back through this rift when their duties were done."

.

Jellal bowed his head solemnly. "I was grieved to hear of his passing… Kairyn was a man who understood that doing what was right could sometimes lead us down a dark path that few are brave enough to tread." He raised his gaze more confidently to the wizards around him. "So, I began to monitor the rift and keep it open for the day that Neirah was ready to go home."

.

There was a look of astonishment on the three Fairy Tail wizard's faces. "You know where it is then?" Damion encouraged eagerly.

.

Jellal responded with a small nod.

.

"Hey! Ya hear that, kiddo!? Your almost-" Damion caught his words hesitantly when he turned to face the shuttering little girl as she cried. "Whoa, what's got you blue?"

.

"Don't you want to go home…?" Meredy whimpered sadly.

.

Edolas Neirah had gotten used to the people around her treating her like a child because of her youthful appearance so she didn't mind being baby talked like one. "It's just… been so long... What if he's forgotten about me?"

.

Neirah knelt and laid her hands on the girl's shoulders with a reassuring smile. "Oh come on, that's an easy one," she cooed. "Your Gajeel, my Gajeel, I'm sure it won't matter." She reached out and gently wiped the tears from the girl's eyes. "Once your love is engraved on those iron hearts of theirs, it's there for good." She teased a small smile out of her Edolas counterpart, laughing off the tears with her skittish companion.

.

Jellal offered the girl a small smile. "Follow us. We'll take you to the rift."

.

They walked in silence for the rest of their journey, which was not a very long one. Home had been closer than they thought all along. Edolas Neirah marvelled hopefully at the flicker of the rift, watching as it sputtered with the need to seal despite magic festering around its borders and keeping it open.

.

"Well, this is it…" Meredy announced humbly.

.

"You won't be capable of using the magic you learned on Earthland once you step through the gate," Jellal cautioned her. "And I have no idea where this rift will deliver you."

.

"It's ok…" Neirah whispered. Her glossy cerulean orbs stared into the presence before her. "I've learnt so much… being with Master Kairyn and the others…" She clasped her hand to her mouth with a soft cry of emotion. "H-he… he always said we'd go back together," she whimpered sadly. "I know he could seem cruel and heartless… but to me, Master Kairyn was always… so kind…"

.

Arihana diverted her mournful gaze. "I know that Master Kairyn was the Edolas counterpart of the Golden Dragon Divine, but a part of me had always hoped that he would stay with us…"

.

Damion faked a smile for the sake of his teammates and knelt to the small Neirah's side. "Welp, if we've learnt anything' from the Masta it's that the old drago's will works in strange ways, huh?" He put his arm around the girl who embraced him tightly with teary eyes. "But it's time for you to go now, kiddo…"

.

"I'm going to miss you, Damion…"

.

Damion diverted his misty gaze. "Yeah… me too."

.

Arihana joined their side, embracing Neirah just as tightly. "We couldn't have done this without you…"

.

"Goodbye Ari," Neirah whimpered gently. "I promise I'll never forget you…" The small girl then turned her attention to her old guild master, her tears still falling from her solemn expression. "Empress? Could I… could I ask you one last favour?"

.

Neirah nodded. "Of course, anything…"

.

The girl advanced and wrapped her arms wound her master's wait, burying her face in her cloak. "Can you please tell your Gajeel that I'm sorry… for everything…?"

.

Neirah's heart skipped a beat with the sincerity of the woman's small words.

.

"I know he probably hates me and never wants to see me again… but even if he wasn't mine, he made everything seem so much better… just being there…"

.

Neirah smiled knowingly.

.

"Why don't you tell him yourself?"

.

Edolas Neirah whirled from her master's lap to face where Levy had joined their party with a gleeful smile; Gajeel close to her side.

.

"He doesn't hate you. He gets it," Gajeel rumbled softly. He tipped his hand back to scratch anxiously at his nape. He lowered his head with a settling sigh before offering the girl a gentle smile. "Come 'ere, kid…"

.

With tears in her eyes, Edolas Neirah sprinted into Gajeel's arms and gave him a tight hug.

.

Gajeel lifted the girl up in his arms, his expression soft as he held her. "All you Shadow's are a bunch'a nightmares," he teased.

.

Things had always been awkward between Gajeel and the loli version of his Earthland sister. Because Edolas Neirah was so youthful in appearance, she had always reminded him of the little sister he lost when he was trapped on Tenrou Island for seven agonisingly long years. Being a copy of her Edolas husband, she had been equally as tormented. But the truth was that he had helped her stay strong with a shadowed presence of the one she loved.

.

And for a moment, at least, he'd had his baby sister back…

.

Gajeel set the girl back on her toes with a sly grin. "Yer gonna give 'im hell for me when you get back, right?" He settled his palm on the top of her head, her beaming grin stopping his heart as his little sister looked up to him one last time.

.

"You bet!"

.

"Good luck!" Levy called, reciprocating the child's wave as she approached the rift.

.

"Thank you for everything everyone!" She called back, her tears falling more for excitement than for fear. "I promise I'll never forget you!"

.

Neirah watched her Edolas counterpart vanish before turning her grateful smile to Jellal. All he did was nod before starting through the forest again, Meredy giving them a friendly wave upon parting.

.

She smiled sincerely, feeling fulfilled with the way Infinity Dragon had been dissolved. She turned back to her big brother, who was obviously a little mixed up with how he'd felt about watching his little sister fade from him a second time. With a wicked smile, she ran up to him and leapt onto his back. "What's wrong, Screwball? You look pretty dorky with that ugly frown!"

.

"Oi! Get the hell off of me, you little brat!"

.

"Not uh! This is so much more fun than walking on _my own two feet_!"

.

Gajeel's cheeks coloured rosy with the memories she'd surfaced, Levy in hysterics by his side. "Cut it out, kid, yer too big for stuff like this now!"

.

"I'm no bigger than Levy!"

.

"Yeah, but she get's preference!"

.

"She's not using you right now so I wanna turn!"

.

"Damn it! I ain't a mode of transportation!"

.

"Aren't you glad I don't get motion sick like the rest of you?" Neirah held her fingers to her lips with a dry heaving sound.

.

"Shads, that ain't funny!"

.

"And this is just day one," Damion sang enthusiastically. "Never a dull day when yer surrounded by faeries."

.

Arihana shook her head before chasing after the hollering trio. "Nothing could be truer," she purred affectionately before giving her fiancé a gentle nuzzle. "It seems like a wonderful place to call home."

.

"Sure does, Snowflake."

.

* * *

.

Laxus had his shoulder propped lazily against his window frame, a cloud of smoke filling the cool night as he stared out over the quiet city. He didn't mind that he'd managed to find some time to himself. He had a _lot_ to think about.

.

His lethargic gaze was open, but not truly conscious of what he was seeing. 'I'm… I'm gonna be a dad…' He'd had mixed emotions about the realisation. A part of him was panicked beyond words, a little stressed, a little nervous. Then there was a part of him that was silently rejoicing. That little bit of fear mixed with a side of excitement was overwhelming, to say the least. The strong and beautiful woman he'd grown to love was carrying his child.

.

He reached back and rubbed his nape with his free hand. 'Looks like I got a few months to figure out how I'm gonna explain that one…' It was definitely something he wasn't ready to announce to his entire guild. He drew his cigarette to his lips, watching the end flicker with life as the narcotic filled his lungs. For someone who'd just helped defeat a dragon and lived to talk about it, he was tense.

.

He laid the lit butt against the windowsill and gave it a twist. 'Well, that's my last one of those for a while…' With his silent oath, he flicked the extinguished butt over the sill and crossed his room to take a seat on his bedside. He rested his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands. 'Shit, I know we're not kids anymore but this is insane.' He sighed into his palms and swept them back over his face into his hair. "I'm gonna be a dad…"

.

He stared at the floor and just listened to winter fill the skies outside his window. But winter wasn't the only thing that approached. Somewhere in the night, a war was coming, and when it did, he had a whole 'nother reason to push it back.

.

'And I suppose she won't take this laying down either…' He sighed and rubbed the crease on his brow. 'Just like with Reku, she isn't gonna sit back and watch. She's gonna help us beat it… for-'

.

He smiled to himself humbly in the dark room, maybe allowing the subtlest of eager flushes in the colouring of his cheeks. "I'm gonna be a dad…"

.

He didn't know why, but the thought filled him with pride. He found himself wishing that he'd had his words in order the moment he'd found out. He felt like his reaction was weak. He had hardly given her the confidence she'd need to face, maybe, the greatest battle of their lives.

.

He pulled his shirt over his head, giving his disturbed mop a shake. "Fuck, this got real fast…"

.

He threw his shirt into a heap on the floor and laid out on his side, then he slipped his arm under one of his pillows and clutched it beneath his head as he stared out the window. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep, but his exhausted body probably would have thanked him for the effort. He could admit that he couldn't figure everything out in one night, so he decided he'd close his eyes, no matter how restless he was.

.

If nothing else, he was home.

.

* * *

.

He felt reality fading, and under the impression that his dreams were overtaking him in sleep, he slowly opened his eyes. The room had darkened with the shift in the moon and the only real indication that he might be dreaming was the uncharacteristically sweet scent he'd caught in the air. Still, under the impression that he was alone and drifting between dimensions, he closed his eyes and inhaled it deeply like drawing it in would make it stronger. In the self-indulgent moment, the hand behind his head flickered with life as he gripped his hair restlessly.

.

Sakura.

.

The last time he'd caught a similar scent in his room, he had returned home to find a vengeful dragon slayer in his bed, and on his walls. He smiled to himself as he reached back and ran his fingertips over the glossy poster print still hanging above his headboard of his child's mother. The beautiful brunette bombshell's vengeance was strong in the seductive pose she offered Sorcerer the issue after his return.

.

Yea, she'd hated him… once. Not that he could blame her. Now, the way she awakened every sense upon approach, it made him feel the fool for ever forgetting her. But then, he supposed, in his defence: the sickly child he helped gather some sketches swatted from her hands in a busy market years ago was far from the exotic beauty she'd become.

.

He felt pathetic drawing in the scent again, hating how doing so made him feel like some sort of animal in search of a mate. He hated considering that his lust for her had grown with the adjust in her mated scent; as if he could be competent of such things… as if he could be so primordial. Although disgusted with the effort, he concluded that the scent filling his expanding chest was growing stronger. He was beginning to grow more alert, the air of fantasy dissipating with his returning consciousness.

.

Soon, there was a shift in the weight disbursed on his bed, and he hadn't moved. It started on the right, tipping favour slightly beneath it, then more sternly to the left. The advance was slow, gentle and methodical in its movements. The dry swallow he choked down did nothing for the ruse he tried to perpetrate but pretending to sleep was more difficult than he'd anticipated when his heart was racing so wildly beneath his chest.

.

The weight had stabilised in the bed, but the unsettling reality was that it hadn't vanished, it was still perched precariously above him. It was confirmed in the heat of flesh surrounding his own, the whisper of a voice waiting to taste his skin. He continued to work his fingers restlessly against his scalp. Unlike the sensation of being an animal in search of another, the feeling that had overcome him was just as primal but far less encouraging.

.

He felt like prey.

.

Due to the feeling being uncommon to him, it served to thrill. Because of this, he played along with his hunter's game. He had tried to conceal his flinch when the weight above him shifted once more, but that was before his ragged breathing had been drawn to his attention against her own. He wasn't nearly as stealthy as he thought he was. All at once, his grip on his own hair tightened anxiously while a breath other than his own met his lips. It remained tight until soft lips gently pressed against his, and with the expulsion of his blissful sigh, his grip relaxed.

.

He could feel the gentle curl of her lips as she smiled against their kiss and he felt free from the strain he'd inflicted upon himself with his worries. Finally, he'd relaxed beneath her and drew his hand from behind his head so it could join with the other encasing her face.

.

Their kisses were gentle and shallow, slow embraces repeated affectionately in the silent room as they filled it with the sounds of breath hitching. Her smile remained through them all and he could feel the warmth in her cheeks, coloured with sensuality, as he swept back the satiny strands of hair framing her face.

.

He drew in a deep breath beneath one of their kisses, speech cracking the intimacy the next moment his lips were free to make the attempt. "How long have you been here?" He felt a tremor in the arms supporting her weight, and when his fingertips rolled over bare skin, he could feel the rise of her flesh beneath.

.

"About an hour or so," she whispered invigoratingly in response. She filled her mind with ways to spark another response from him just so she could indulge in the hoarse rasp of his sleepy voice before it had cleared again. "I didn't think it would be so fun to watch you sleep again…"

.

"Creepy," he rumbled softly against her next kiss.

.

His breathing hitched, his body steeling when her lips met his ear, her hand, the bulge beneath his pants. "Sweet dreams, Prince?"

.

He hissed out a trembling breath with her forward approach, the feeling of her tongue against his ear instantly sedating him. "What? A guy can't enjoy a little time to his thoughts?" He rumbled softly. He groaned in delight and shoved his hand down the gaping front of her pants, gripping the hem and jerking her body flush to his before rolling his fingers over her hips as she ground against him. He hooked his thumbs in the loops of her khaki cargo pants and gave them a tug. They might have fit her a little better if she'd worn a belt with them, but what was tantalising about that? Her spandex white tank, however, hugged every moonlit swell in her flesh like she'd worn nothing at all. Her dark nipples were erect and flashing through the nearly glowing material just begging to be licked. He rushed out a heavy breath, trying not to shove his clammy palms in the gap between her baggy pants and her tight backside. He rolled his lips into the crook of her neck. "I thought you were going to stay at your place tonight…"

.

"I was," she admitted with bated breath. "But my thoughts got the best of me."

.

"What were you thinking about?" He whispered provocatively. He sank his itching fingers into the back pockets of her pants, giving her backside a tight, encouraging squeeze to allow her to straddle his hips and reach the erection she'd stirred to life beneath her palm.

.

She kept her brow pressed against his, their parted lips teasing each other with breathy words as they conversed, knowing full well that wasn't what they wanted to do at that particular moment. "You… us…" Her admittance was humble as she traced his lips with her finger, silently hoping he'd start to make better use of them. "Everything happened so fast…"

.

His heavy-lidded gaze was fading with every shift in her hips grinding up against him purposefully. Her heat was burning him up from the core out. With his surrender, he heaved a languid sigh and diverted his gaze to place kisses on her collar. "Tell me about it…"

.

She knew his statement was rhetorical in his breath of passionate surrender, but she humoured it anyways. "It seems like just yesterday we had finally given in… to each other…"

.

He could almost feel his consciousness fading into the sweet sakura scent of the auburn waves he sank his fingers into. "Fuck, give in to me…"

.

The hungry growl emitting against her collar assured her that he'd come to realise that she wasn't wearing a bra beneath her fitted shirt. It resulted in her tight, dark nipples flashing through the material and teasing him with their distraction. "But I guess they say… home is where the heart is." She tipped her head back with a guttural groan and slipped her fingers into his hair. "I'm pretty sure I lost that battle a long time ago. It didn't feel right, sleeping alone…"

.

His name on her lips was sweet and encouraging as his tongue laved at his erect targets. Right from the beginning, her luscious breasts were her primary weakness, but since conceiving, this weakness became a handicap destructive to her resistance. "Do you have a sixth sense that just tells you when I need you?" He groaned, pinching one of the tight nubs between his teeth.

.

She emitted a startled cry and clenched him tighter. "I don't think so..."

.

His lips curled into the subtlest of smirks. "That's probably a good thing or it'd drive you crazy…" He slid his palm down the gap in the front of her pants and rolled his fingers over the satiny material of her thong beneath. "Fuck, it's hot to see you in something other than the rags you fight in," he growled through his kisses becoming abrasive against her chest.

.

"You sound so desperate."

.

With her anxious whine, he rolled her onto her back beneath him. "You can see right through me." He tugged the scarce material of her panties to the side and tested the moisture brewing for his lust. He was not disappointed. "You know, it actually pisses me off that I couldn't get you this wet the first time." He ignored her inaudible moans and lowered his kisses to her stomach.

.

Just as he was about to pass her tummy towards the scent of her arousal, he paused, lingering to where her top had inched up just high enough to expose the diamonds dangling from the charm at her navel. With slow, gentle hands, he moved the material slowly over the tremble in her belly.

.

He closed his eyes and laid his slow kiss against the soft flesh just beneath the glistening of gems tickling his lips. He didn't have the right head thinking to be touching on the topic so soon, but if just momentarily, he wanted to let her know he hadn't forgotten.

.

Her blissful sigh assured him she'd noticed, and from there, he was encouraging her desperation to elevate. Her slacks were baggy enough that he could slip the material of her thong band between his teeth while he popped the button on her pants and lowered the zipper. In fact, if she hadn't of had such broad hips to catch their low ride, she likely would have lost them entirely on her way there.

.

The heat beneath his nose was incredible and had fire igniting in his veins. He tugged the material from underneath her and sat back on his haunches, the release of her panties with his departure causing her to yelp with the snap of the elasticity on her waistline. He slid off her pants and tossed them to the floor in a different heap to where he'd left his shirt. He had a war to fight and a woman to love. He could clean if he survived both a. and b.

.

Upon her retracting her legs from her clothing, he caught the sight of her socked feet trying to scurry away. The thought amused him as he captured one of them with a playful grin. "You're adorable," he commanded. He teased her squirmy toes as he tried to snatch her sock. "One day I'll fuck you in nothing but your socks, your bare ass on the kitchen counter..." He paused for a moment in thought, a more animalistic growl rattling his chest than he cared to acknowledge. "Maybe just your socks and my shirt from the night before… Fucking best breakfast ever…" He hated how easy it was for him to arouse himself with fantasies of all the delightful encounters to come.

.

Neirah's cheeks coloured with his bold insinuations extending to a life for them beyond what they currently shared. "Why can't that day be today?" She whined feverishly, desperate to steal her feet back before he had managed to incapacitate her entirely. "Laxus…"

.

He stole her sock and tossed it absently over his shoulder, immediately returning his stern touch to the arch of her foot. "Because this really gets you goin'…"

.

She hollowed her back, her head and rump the only points grounding her as the arousing sensations washed through her.

.

He raked his teeth along her ankle as he worked his thumbs over her sole. "Where does an innocent cult kid come up with a freaky little kink like this?" He placed a gentle kiss on her ankle bone and slid his tongue over the tendon sprouting from it. His strong stroke led him all the way up to her knee as his fingers rolled her heel between them, his hungry gaze moderating the escalation in her moans. "That's not a very good answer."

.

"Where does a man like you come up with the desire to be beaten?!" She demanded hoarsely while binding her knuckles in his sheets.

.

His arousal stirred with the challenge in her voice. He released her foot and raised above her once more, looking down into her pitifully twisted features begging for him to continue. "Are you going to beat me?" The scent of sakura oil on her skin was strong, her body obviously bathed generously in the fragrance in preparation for her visit. She knew what it did to him.

.

Her dark lashes danced heavily over her sated gaze, olive skin perspiring with her struggle. "I may if you don't get back to what you were doing."

.

His body grew tense with the need to resist her just to call her bluff, but a part of him needed to obey her just as badly as she needed him to. He carried on with hooking his fingers beneath her thong and slowly peeling the damp cloth from her flesh. "You make me crazy," he breathed out quietly. He slipped his fingers between petals glistening with moonlight, anxiously salivating and eager for a taste.

.

Neirah's cheeks lit up with arousal and humility as she closed her eyes and sank her fingers into his hair. "I hate how good this feels," she whined feverishly. Her cheeks ignited a deeper shade when he quietly nuzzled her mound and gave her wet slit a teasing stroke with his tongue. "Have other women you've done this with gotten this awkward?"

.

He rolled his lethargic gaze up her body to where he could watch her squirm beneath his fingertips. "You have a pretty crappy opinion of me, don't you?"

.

Neirah flinched with his low admittance, not sure if he was being sarcastic or not. "You _have_ been with other women," she demanded certainly. "You can't tell me you haven't!"

.

"I have," he admitted frankly. He rolled his gaze from where it monitored hers, a little concerned that she didn't even react the slightest bit jealously. "But I don't fuck every woman the same way."

.

Neirah's colour darkened with her euphoria, her body humming to life beneath his voice. "Then the ones… the ones you've been with like this…"

.

He curled his lips to one side, and realising that she wasn't going to look down at him, he turned his attention to her soft pink flesh. "You're the first…"

.

Something sparked deep inside her to hear him admit so honestly that the overwhelming bliss that was his tongue inside her was hers and hers alone. She wanted to ask him why, but her mind was numbing to the strong strokes of his tongue penetrating her with a fierce thirst.

.

She couldn't help but try and squirm closer, couldn't help but pull his hair, arch her hips and beg him for more. She whined and writhed beneath his fingers replacing his tongue inside her, his teeth bearing down on her clit as he searched her.

.

Her thighs started to tremble, and before she could relax them, he had found the spot he sought and rubbed it strongly with thick fingers. Neirah let out a shrill cry as her thighs bounced between clenching his head and falling wider to allow him better access to her body. Either way, she shuddered indignantly when he sucked her flesh and saw that special spot inside her stimulate beyond her ability to comprehend the pleasure.

.

"There it is," he rumbled triumphantly. His gaze rose with his head as her core milked his fingers inside her. "Right where I left it…" He pumped his fingers into her a couple more times and let her moans slowly become manageable again. "You're so small, everything's easy access…"

.

"Don't be a brute!" Her demand was frantic and she was ready to strike him.

.

She was silenced the moment he returned the pressure with a curl in his fingers and sent her into wails of hysterics all over. "Fuck, you're so wet…"

.

"Thank you for stating the obvious!" Neirah ground her teeth, the tips of her ears burning with her embarrassment. She loved it when he talked so bluntly. "If you stopped… doing what you're doing, maybe I wouldn't be!"  
.

He was ready to lean forwards, but not remove his fingers from inside her. "This is how I want you," he assured her.

.

"It's disgusting," she whined. "And the way you… you just…"

.

"Drink you?"

.

Neirah was sure her heart had burst with how unintentionally arousing his simple statements had become. She couldn't look at him. Not when he talked about her body so openly. "Y-yes," she prattled out weakly. It sounded more like encouragement than agreement.

.

"It's no different from when you go down on me," he groaned. He rolled his kisses over the flush of humiliated skin swelling out from under her shirt.

.

"I didn't mean to do that!" She defended sheepishly. "You forced me to-" She threw her head back and groaned, her insides clamping down on his fingers with her arousal.

.

"Did you like it?" He growled lightly against her ear.

.

"I- wh-"

.

"Did. you. like it," he repeated more sternly.

.

She narrowly parted her gaze and stared over his inked shoulder. "Y-yes…"

.

He smiled triumphantly before withdrawing his fingers and settling between her thighs. "I wouldn't do it if I didn't like it…" He sighed and withdrew his lips from her ear, his attention turning to where her breasts were flushed and engorged waiting for his touch. "But to be honest, you make me like things that I never bothered with before."

.

"Like…?"

.

He slipped her left strap over her shoulder and peeled the material of her shirt away from her breast, using the elasticity of the shirt to prop her swollen flesh on display. "You'd be amazed at how little can get a guy off…" He slid his tongue over the golden wings of the fairy settled over her heart. It was the greatest sign of home. "I wasn't always in it for love…"

.

"So, you let others come on to you."

.

"I can be a real jerk…"

.

Neirah smiled at his sentiment and curled her fingers into his hair. "If they needed you just as bad as you needed them, who's to say you were a jerk?" She teased. She pressed her skin into his kisses with her deep inhale. "You're just a lazy lover."

.

He peeked up at her from between her soft peaks. "I don't want to be that way with you."

.

She smiled back at him, a soft whisper on her lips. "Maybe _I_ don't want to be that way with _you_ …"

.

Neirah slowly sat up against him, her fingers raising to the straps of her top to push them down over her shoulders. With a blissful sigh of relief, she pulled the top from her body and tossed it to the floor just as nonchalantly as he had; her breasts giving a weighted bounce with their disturbance. With a confident smile, she raised her arms and dropped them around his neck. "I think I'm starting to get a hang of this," she whispered against his lips before fondling the roots of his hair. "It's a give-and-take."

.

"What are you gonna give me?" He breathed elatedly against her lips.

.

"I'm _taking_ first, Prince." Her purr was seductive as she pushed him back on his knees. Her fingers met his pants and slowly unbound the sloppy knot in the drawstring. "It's not fair that I've been so comfortable and you're so…restrained…"

.

He let her guide him towards his headboard, confident smirks on both of their playful expressions. "Keep talkin'," he rumbled euphorically.

.

She gently took his hands in hers, pulling them out to the sides as she kept their brows locked in erotic banter. "But, from what I've learned, you don't always play fair."

.

His brow furrowed curiously as she giggled hungrily and bit her lip, her hands folding behind his back and taking his with them. His expression remained sly as he met every one of her affectionate nuzzles eagerly. "Is _this_ the part where you beat me?" He really hadn't meant to sound so eager.

.

Neirah arched her breasts into his chest, the act forcing her head back and her lips to flirt with the sensitivity of his ears once again. "Maybe…" She purred gently, retrieving something from under his pillow.

.

The gentle sway of his affection against hers quieted the moment he felt cool bands wrap around his wrists in place of her warm fingertips. He let a long blink transcend the silence as his weighted gaze lingered on the lips she still displayed with a playful smile. "Did you just do what I think you did?"

.

She was just as near when she smiled and drew her hands back to his bare chest. "Maybe…"

.

Laxus rolled his gaze to one side as the clatter of his binds disturbed behind his back. She had most certainly cuffed him. He slid his gaze back to her, preparing to diminish her effort, and that was when his expression dropped. "Where did you get magic cancelling restraints from…?"

.

Neirah shivered with the underlying tones of danger in his voice. She rolled her gaze impishly to one side. "My brother worked for the council… what did you think he was going to _arrest_ everybody with?"

.

His gaze darkened. "How did they end up under my pillow?"

.

"I planted them there while you were napping."

.

His gaze shot to hers, a little venom in its intensity. "Why?"

.

She didn't let his challenge outshine her own, instead, she nuzzled beneath his chin and smiled. "Because I remember how it turned you on in Lysar…" She reached down and tugged at his waistline. She leant into his thighs, her breathy sigh teasing his cock upon passing. "Providing it wasn't the blood loss talking, I was hoping you might be able to enjoy it without the threat of losing your life to organic destruction magic."

.

After removing his pants, she crawled back up his body and wrapped her arms around his waist, smothering his erection with her soft breasts. "What's the matter, Prince? You seem tense."

.

Laxus looked down on her vexingly for a long moment. "I… don't know…"

.

She rolled her head to one side with an innocent pout. "Don't know what?"

.

A subtle hiss escaped his chest as she crawled back up into his lap, the heat between her thighs straddling his hips as she ground them against his girth. "I've just… never had anyone turn it around on me before…" If he could've come up with a coherent thought, that would have been nice. "I dunno… what to think…"

.

Neirah dropped her arms around his neck, comforting fingers sweeping through his hair as she coddled him. "If you're surrendering control, do you have to think?"

.

His senses were numbing, overwhelmed by her complete detachment from the situation. Her heat was searing in his lap, her soft little body pressed tightly against his, her desire slathering his cock. A part of it annoyed him that she remained so strong in resistance to their nearness, completely unaffected by the body she ground against.

.

He curled his head around the side of her neck and muttered his words languidly against her neck. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

.

Neirah smiled and lowered her lips to his ear, a playful gleam in her cerulean gaze. "I lost the ability to claim ignorance the day I conceived our child," she teased. "If I don't try, I'm never going to learn."

.

He withdrew his lips to where he could see hers delicately mingle against their conversation. "Shit," he murmured bleakly. The rap of his heart was agonisingly knocking against the walls of his chest. He needed her to ride him. "Come on to me…"

.

Neirah's cheeks coloured as she watched his submission see his desperate kisses placed on her collar. For a moment, she just closed her eyes and emitted a blissful sigh, smiling to the night as she clutched his head to her bosom. After the indulgence had been enjoyed, she slid one hand down his chest, over his strained abdomen between them, towards where her hips teased his shaft with their slow rock.

.

"What happens when you want to touch me?" Her purr was gentle as she pumped her small hand over the shaft she'd dampened with her body's desire.

.

"It sucks," he groaned eagerly against the swell of her bare breasts.

.

"Is that going to be a problem?"

.

"Just shut up and fuck me."

.

Neirah moaned gently when his abrasive growl made the demand, it made her question whether she was really in control at all. At his command, she arched her breasts into his eager kisses and raised her hips high enough she could accommodate his length between them. Her heart raced with uncertainty. It didn't seem so hard, up, down.

.

She sealed her eyes with a discomforted mewl when she forced her trembling body down against his cock. She was thankful for the dampness making it easier for him to slide inside, but she still hadn't quite adjusted to his girth.

.

She offered a desperate moan, barely the first inch of his hot flesh inside her body. The act forced Laxus' arms to fight the restraints at his back. "Fuck," he spat out bitterly. He was desperate to offer her some form of guidance. "Relax."

.

Neirah raised her weighted gaze to where he nuzzled into her urgently. She reached out and clasped her hand tightly around his neck, her nails stabbing with the force of her redirected tension as she forced her body to swallow his presence. She threw her head back with a pained moan, the pressure of her second hand joining her first on his shoulders.

.

His wrists burned with his strain against the binds, his body aching with his tension. "Tease," he barked hungrily. His body was burning up beneath her heat. He tipped his chin towards his chest, desperate to claim the bite of her nails sinking into his tight flesh. "You're a fucking dancer, I know you can do better than this."

.

Neirah, who had just barely managed to accommodate the entirety of his erection, narrowly opened her eyes to observe his struggle. She had never seen him break a sweat so quickly before. She panted a couple deep breaths to steady herself before she was ready to play.

.

She reached out and raked her fingernails over his tight arms, tracing them from his restraints to his broad shoulders. "Insulting the woman responsible for your relief doesn't seem like a very good idea right now," she cautioned. The roll of her hips was slow in order to see that she had adjusted to him properly before she distracted herself with her games. "Maybe I wanted to watch you squirm for a bit."

.

Then mission accomplished. The desperation filling him was unbearable as he laid his head against her shoulder and raked his teeth over her skin. The pressure was excruciating. "Don't do this to me," he pleaded sternly. "Fuck, Neirah I'm not made for this shit…"

.

"Is that why you like it so much?" She challenged. "Because it hurts?"

.

He shuddered desperately as she smoothed herself agonisingly slowly over his cock. He had about a million curses racing through his mind, afraid that if he tried to offer just one to his circumstance, they'd all tumble out in incomprehensible fragments.

.

Feeling his tension grow, her eyes darkened lustfully as she encouraged him to lay his ravenous kisses on her chest. Once she'd had him distracted, she began to ride him slowly, but more consistently. Her fingertips gently traced the lines of veins and tendons threatening to burst from beneath his skin. "It's amazing how tight your body has the capability of becoming," she marvelled as little nails smoothed over the etched lines of his body. "And you never complain…"

.

A sinister little grin curled her lips. "Like a dam restraining the fury of the ocean…" She expanded her chest beneath his hunger with a deep breath, sinking her nails into his shoulder blades. "All it would take his one crack to see the pressure released."

.

He was relieved that her flesh hadn't been between his teeth when he felt the tearing of his skin beneath her aggression or he was sure his mouth would be filling with her blood. At first, he thought she might have been doing it reflexively in bearing, but her slow ride on his hips didn't stop, and the nails piercing his flesh started to drag.

.

He slammed his brow into her shoulder, pressing into her for a reprieve as his teeth threatened to crack beneath the pressure of his clenching jaw. He kept his jaw locked, refusing to utter the string of profanities that would lead to insult. Again, he had so many to offer her that he was afraid all he'd manage to utter in result was the desperate plea; _don't stop_.

.

Neirah was feeling more confident in her station as she arched into his desperation and accommodated his trembling figure. She wrinkled her nose, denying the guilt that wanted to rise with the scent of his blood. She had to remain strong for him.

.

She pressed her lips strongly against his ear, her whisper almost sinister in expulsion. "You like being at my mercy?" She smoothed her tongue over the channels of his ear, his desperate heave of breath fueling her dominance. That confidence encouraged her to roll her hips against his cock a little more unique than simply sliding up and down a slick shaft. Like he'd announced, she was a dancer. He made it sound like the way she moved on the floor could somehow relate to their indulgence. For that reason, she tested his theory.

.

She was his sedation, forcing his body numb to reality from the very start.

.

The sensation was something he couldn't process; the feeling of being so out of control. He couldn't fight back, couldn't take his pleasure. There was nothing for him to do but revel in the heat of her hips rolling over his cock and teasing a build-up of monumental stature. It was excruciating.

.

It was euphoric.

.

"Harder," he rumbled in demand. His wrists were battling his restraints so badly he was sure the bruises and cuts would last the week. "Fuck, I need more."

.

Neirah swayed her hips in a lazy circle before lingering deep in his lap just to feel the needy throbbing of his primed cock inside her. "Oh, Sweetie, I don't care what you need."

.

His entire body bucked alertly beneath her arrogance, his eyes opening to stare into her rosy flesh as she gently domesticated him with her tender touch; like he was her pet… her dog. Fury and arousal swirled inside and forced him silent in the wake of their tide. It was in the next moment he realised why his skin had torn so easily beneath her nails because a long ebony claw was pressed beneath his chin, the sharp bite of its presence demanding his gaze to rise and meet the infinite gold irises of his lover.

.

He hated those eyes; eyes that could make him feel like his life was in her hands. All the power of infinity glowered back at him seductively, along with all her secrets and promise.

.

"It's amazing what you learn when you pay attention," she mewled. She gently tipped his gaze back so she could smooth the flat of her tongue over his throat. He forced his eyes shut, his grit teeth flashing in the moonlight against her aggression. "You stay harder longer when you're being abused."

.

He wanted to fight back and deny her conceit, but all he could manage to repeat in his head was; _fuck I love this woman._

.

She slowly slid her claw down his throat and over his sternum, increasing the pressure as she descended towards his loins. "You know, I really do love you…" She whispered delicately against his pulse. She could feel his heart thunder beneath her tongue. "But I'm never going to stop fighting."

.

He tipped his head back over her shoulder with a desperate groan. "Damn, don't stop," he pleaded coarsely. A gruff whine escaped him indignantly with the split of skin beneath the claw tracing his centre.

.

She continued to ride his lap, her pace growing swift as she judged his resiliency to her affections. "I love it…" She sighed affectionately, surfacing another throaty groan when she fisted her hands in his hair and jerked his gaze from against her shoulder to where she could monitor its sedation. "Watching the mighty beast himself fall to pieces in my hands."

.

"He loves it too…"

.

A sharp an undeniable spike of arousal shot through her entirety, making her core tremble around his thick presence inside her when she revealed his pitifully lethargic gaze to her own. Despite his body being tense with eager desperation, his sated gaze was hazy with his complete submission to her indulgence. In that moment, she would have rather he beg her to stop, beg her for relief, anything.

.

But the complete and utter contentedness of his expression made her feel pity that her commanding station wasn't ready for.

.

She clutched the broken beast in her arms, his affectionate nuzzling anxious between her breasts. She leant down and pressed her lips against his ear, her tongue gently teasing the area she knew was electrifyingly sensitive to her precious prince. "Tell me what you need," she breathed out airily in supremacy. "I'm ready to give it to you…"

.

"You," he muttered weakly through lazy kisses sliding over her tender breasts. His brow furrowed in agony as the burn of his open wounds were disturbed by the painful sting of his perspiration beading over their bloodied surface. He was completely enraptured with the sensation.

.

She had to try her hardest not to become drunk on his submission. "That's all you can tell me?" She mewled helplessly. There was an ache in her heart for his complete faith in her. It didn't matter if it was in combat, in trust, or in bed. He believed in her ability to be everything he needed when he needed it. It made her body quiver in his lap with her deep, riding hips.

.

She slid her fingers over his strained shoulders, ignoring the smear of blood against his muscles. "You really are hopeless," she whispered tenderly before sliding her fingers delicately over his trembling hands behind his back. With a soft smile against his temple, she released his bonds and dropped them negligently to the floor, letting the hollow clattering fill her with anticipation.

.

She linked her fingers with his and withdrew his palms, encouraging him to settle them on her grinding hips. "You could sit there and let me tear you apart all night."

.

He remained blissfully unresponsive as his strained fingers worked their tension free and started to eagerly knead her flesh.

.

She smiled lovingly, and clutched his head to her breast, hollowing her belly to force a deepened thrust down into his lap. "I know you're desperate for it," she observed. "I've never felt you so tight."

.

"You have no idea how good it feels," he rumbled in a state of elated ecstasy. "Just to give in."

.

"Being so strong all the time must be exhausting," she teased. "But I don't mind knocking you down a peg every now and then."

.

He sank his fingertips into her haunches and spread her wide on his lap, bucking slowly beneath the grind of her hips until her moans started to escalate with the fading of her demonic resistance. "They'd put me away if they knew how crazy I was about you…" He groaned, his breathing laboured with the force of his restraint guiding her hips against his shaft.

.

Neirah pressed a gentle kiss to his temple, wrapping her healing touch around his shoulders to embrace him. "I don't regret anything that's happened between us since the day we met," she whispered reassuringly. With tender hands, she began to lift the pain from his aching body with the help of her sky magic.

.

"That might be the only thing that I don't regret…" He straightened, his touch growing fiercer on her with every pain healed. With tension returning to his arms, he sank his fingertips into her hips and started to guide her pace against his lap. "Now get me off before I break," he nearly growled.

.

"Yes, sir," she whispered hungrily in his ear.

.

He took another trip to cloud nine on her eagerness to please, her hips bouncing on his throbbing cock with all the power she'd ever danced with. It wasn't a plain bob either, it was a roll, a dip, fast, slow, and every time he thought he'd lose it, her body was retracting the pressure that drove him towards the edge. He didn't think he could be any more eager, but that was when her core started to milk him between thrusts.

.

A part of him wanted to devour her beneath a powerful kiss, but another part of him realised that doing so with the panting breaths filling the room would be next to impossible. Instead, he sat up more accommodatingly and took a hold of her hips, sliding her back with his thumbs. The cooling air starting to circulate between them was refreshing as he sucked one of her tightened nipples behind his teeth for a sharp moment of indulgence.

.

There was nothing she loved more.

.

"That's it," he growled. "All the way back…"

.

Neirah sighed and dipped back on her knees, her kinky auburn waves spilling wildly over the blankets.

.

He heaved a heavy sigh, delighted with her obedience as he tested her flexibility. One hungry palm reached out and kneaded one of her engorged peaks while the other lowered his thumb to her newly exposed clit.

.

Neirah's body shuddered with the incredible adjustment in angle seeing her g-spot stimulated with the thick strokes of his cock inside her. Her spread thighs trembled, her breast arching into his grip with the flexible hollowing of her back. Her breaths were hard and desperate as he pressed against her grind, and for the first time since she'd mounted him, her euphoric cries were cutting the night around them.

.

His name rang in his ears as she cried it full of desperation. "I know what you like," he assured her arrogantly. But in truth, he was secretly wishing it could be his tongue stimulating between her thighs.

.

The act of seeing her overstimulated saw instant reciprocation for his efforts as her body began to convulse passionately around his. Filling her so completely made sure that he felt every euphoric tremor around his own aching member, forcing them into a loop where their climaxes built on the other's pleasure.

.

He was built beyond containment but too stubborn to give in to release. She had made him weaker for completion than he'd ever been, and realising that he was going to experience a wave of pleasure like he'd never known, he wanted to see that she was satisfied before it washed over him and left him weak in her arms.

.

Arms that he just needed to feel around him.

.

He grew impatient with limited leverage to ravage the tenderness he'd struck inside her. In response, he wrapped a strong forearm beneath her waist and raised her from the bedding until her legs had straightened against the sheets. Once she was good and confused as to his actions, he laid her on the edge of his bed, her auburn waves cascading over his floor as she was draped over the side.

.

Finally, he'd regained some mobility in his thrusts and he was ready to show it in his intensity. He sank his fingertips into her hips and drove them with a fierce relentlessness that he hoped would overwhelm them both.

.

His name, more whines, gentle to fiercer cries, he loved the sound of her giving into him. He hammered down on the tenderness inside her, her intense heat clenching his passionate fervour. Her fever for his lust was suffocating.

.

"Your body is heaven," he muttered breathlessly above her. He had to admit, he was secretly wishing that his salivating mouth could be pressed firmly against the engorged globes bouncing before his hungry eyes.

.

"Laxus! I'm so close!" She begged, her cheeks flushing with colour to admit such a desperate truth.

.

He sighed exasperatedly and smoothed his palm tightly down her shuddering core until he'd almost reached his own penetration. It was the first time she'd ever announced her pleasure. "Yeah, I fucking noticed…" He groaned, blinking sweat from his eyes.

.

"I can feel it! Please don't stop!" She whined blissfully and laid her arms back alongside her head as she arched her cramping abdomen towards his strong fingertips, enough blood rushing to her head to make her dizzy. Her moans became fiercer as she so willingly exposed herself to his hunger, the compromising state of her strain only exhilarating her more aggressively.

.

It wasn't long after that her breath caught in her chest and her core started to convulse around him in tight, involuntary jolts. Her chest ached so strongly with the race of her heart that she could hardly breathe much less cry out her completion to her enthusiastic lover.

.

Instead, as soon as she felt her climax forward little white stars to her eyes, she lurched forward with all she had, the blood immediately rushing through her in conflicted ways as she raised and clung to him with a desperate cry.

.

Relieved that his time had finally come, he bit back his need to announce it and raised both hands to where he could force her hips into his unyielding thrusts. He had nothing to withhold, no second thoughts. The woman shrieking his name as she was stolen by aftershock waves of her enrapturing climax was already carrying his child.

.

His child…

.

His woman.

.

Overwhelmed by the pressure bleeding his cock dry inside her, he bit out a furious curse and arched into the weakened figure he coddled. His heartbeat raced against hers as he slammed her hips into his final conscious thrust until the head of his throbbing cock was rocking against her soft cervix to pump his powerful release against the denial of her sealed womb.

.

She didn't think the drive of his hot seed inside her was going to subside, every shot piercing passionately into her memory as he clutched her intimately into the intensity of his climax. It was a feeling she cherished more knowing that the incredible sensation capable of seeing her peak was also the passionate release that granted her child life inside her.

.

A life conceived by their love.

.

She didn't mean to be so emotional as tears filled her eyes against his shoulder. "Laxus…" She whimpered vacantly, a pitiful little smile on her lips as she clutched her belly.

.

He laid his palm on the back of her head before drawing her clutching figure tight to his chest. He laid her out beneath him and gently pulled out of her embrace to observe the origin of the dampness meeting his shoulder. He smiled weakly and smeared the glossy strands over her cheeks. "Please don't," he begged. "You know I'm a sucker for tears…"

.

She shook her head and smoothed the back of her wrists over her smiling face. "I'm sorry, it's silly…"

.

He placed a gentle trail of kisses over her chest towards her tummy. "I don't think so," was his soft encouragement. He laid his chin against her womb and nuzzled into the chain dangling from her navel. "How… how are you feeling?"

.

"Oh, Daddy, it's far too soon for you to start to worry like this," she teased lovingly. She immediately felt his shift in demeanour, his ears perking and eyes brightening as he looked up her dainty body towards her gentle encouragement. His shift almost startled her. "Is something wrong, Prince?"

.

"Daddy," he murmured. He was entranced by the sight of her satiny flesh glistening with perspiration beneath the moonlight so he shifted his gaze from hers to the sight of her stomach heaving with bated breath. "I'm going to be a dad…"

.

Neirah's cheekbones rose her desperate smile and forced more affectionate tears to bubble in her eyes. "That's right…"

.

"The most… amazing, beautiful woman I've ever held… is… she's…"

.

Neirah reached down and slipped her fingers into his hair, holding his head to her abdominal as he finished his sentiment with a slow kiss. "I have to ask…" She whispered her words tenderly, already feeling the tension steal his worrisome body. "Did you…? Was this… on purp-"

.

Laxus swiftly shook his head. "I'm a jerk, but not that big a jerk," he swore. "I got stupid. I forgot how innocent you really were…"

.

Neirah smiled supportively. "You mean before you got a hold of me?"

.

"Yeah," he murmured quietly while rolling tender touches over her core. "You're just so damn confident… so… perfect…"

.

"It's ok," she soothed while sitting up to cradle his head in her lap. "I already told you I have no regrets. This will be our happy little accident."

.

"We are _not_ naming our kid Happy," he cautioned.

.

Neirah smiled gleefully. "I would never dream of it."

.

"What… do you think it'll be like?"

.

Neirah's heart swelled with affection for the man treating her like his own personal body pillow, a youthful wonder filling his lazy indulgence. "Probably handsome and strong with a hint of crazy," she teased.

.

Laxus almost pouted as he looked back at her. "Not too crazy, I hope… I don't know if I could handle any more of that around here."

.

"Look at his mother, and then consider his daddy for a moment."

.

"I don't want to think about his dad," he grumbled certainly. "Y'know, this is one of those rare occasions that telling me it's not actually mine would be a good thing."

.

"Unacceptable," Neirah demanded fervently. "This little beast inside me has Dreyar blood through and through…" Her expression faded with her own words, a harsh reality sinking into her fantasy. "I would be blessed if they were just like their daddy…"

.

Laxus didn't receive the grievance in her honeyed concern. He was too enchanted by their gift. "Daddy," he murmured indulgently. He could repeat it over and over again in his head, his heart thundering more passionately each time. "I'm gonna be a dad…"

.

Neirah just laid beneath his expression for a long and silent moment, her fingers eagerly petting him with her anxious thoughts. During the course of a few days, her entire world had changed from hopelessly dark to bright with a future. A future that would see them with a family. She still couldn't believe… just how far they'd come.

.

"I… I'm not going to lie," she admitted with a half-giggling grin. "I'm nervous."

.

"Oh good, so it's not just me…"

.

"Dork!" She chided upon striking his shoulder with a laugh. "You could have said something!"

.

"Busy," he rumbled with an affectionate smirk.

.

Neirah shook her head and stole one of his hands. "At least give me these so I can heal them. You put up quite a bit of resistance against those things. It's not a wonder you went and hurt yourself."

.

"And here I was all excited for round two."

.

"No such luck, Prince." She gave an affectionate purr and drew him out of her lap. "I think you've had enough for one night."

.

He smiled against the lazy kiss he placed on her lips. "Are you gonna stay?"

.

Neirah's expression softened tenderly. "Is that what you want, Daddy?"

.

He responded with a gentle groan and another passionate kiss.

.

"I can stay," she whispered lovingly as she adjusted beneath him. Her demeanour shifted with purpose. "Laxus?" She hated how content he sounded just groaning inquisitively against her breasts. She really hated to have to ruin his mood. "Do you… remember what I said… when we first found out…?"

.

His attention grew more alert as he sat up and took her into his arms against the headboard. "Yeah," he assured her softly. "You're not gonna stop until the world's right for our kid…"

.

She tipped her head back with a hopeful expression. "But I won't be able to keep this up much longer. What if they keep delaying and I get too far along to push back? What if our child is born during the w-"

.

Laxus silently took her hands in his, folding them around her waist from behind her. He gently leant his lips against the top of her head and closed his eyes. "They'll come," he assured her. "The old man's already disturbed the nest. It could be tomorrow for all we know."

.

Neirah looked out over his room, her expression fading now that he couldn't see it. "You're afraid, aren't you?" She mewled weakly, her fingers tightening around his as they shared rest against her belly. She could feel it in his protective clutches, the way his breathing grew laboured with distraction. "They're dangerous… aren't they…?"

.

Laxus sighed and nuzzled into her nape. "And from what I hear, lots of 'em…"

.

Her gaze faltered over into the night, her heart beating so strongly that she was sure he could likely feel it against her shoulders. "What if… I told you there was a way I could help, but stay off the front lines?"

.

"I'd say that sounds like a damn good place for you," he defied. He denied his need to keep her in his sights with the swiftness of his remark. "What's the catch? I highly doubt you're just going to sit back and watch them come."

.

"Of course not," she whispered.

.

* * *

 _._

 _"_ _The war between humans, dragons, and immortals is coming." He turned his fierce crimson gaze to where the Infinity Empress stared him down from behind polished golden orbs. "When it does, you and I will settle this…"_

.

* * *

.

"But I don't have time to wait for all our ducks to sit in a row. I have to hunt them out one by o-" Neirah shrieked in alarm when her face was jerked solidly towards his, a look of strict demand in his gaze like she'd never seen.

.

"If you even so much as fucking think about it I _will_ tie you to your bed and leave you behind!"

.

"Laxus, he's not just after me! It's all the other dragon slayers too!" She defended desperately. "You'll have enough on your plate just defending against Zeref's empire!"

.

"Look, I know he killed that old lizard of yours, but you have to let that go," he commanded firmly. "I know you're tough, but just think about it for a damn second! The only reason we all managed to smash Reku into oblivion was 'cause they hadn't finished bringing him back to life! Neirah, for fuck's sake just think about Tenrou, the Eclipse Gate!"

.

"And if you remember correctly, Kairyn, a dragon slayer using _MY_ magic, was capable of backhanding one of those beasts into oblivion!" Neirah squirmed out of his embrace, a flash of challenge in her unrelenting gaze as she watched his ignite with hate for the positive mention of Infinity Dragon's first master. "If I can find him before he makes it to the battlefield, I don't have to worry about my magic affecting the people I care about! I can use it without restraint!"

.

"And how do you know it will work!? How do you know he won't tear you apart, fuck, use your head! Or even worse! How do you know that your own damn magic won't tear you apart out somewhere where no one can help you, where no one knows you are?! It always puts you on your ass to bring it out. Your body just can't take it!"

.

"This time it will!"

.

He ignored how certain she sounded and pressed forward. "You still didn't tell me how you know it will even faze him! He hasn't lived for over four hundred years by being a fucking pushover!"

.

"He's spent most of his life in hiding, just like Ryverika!" She raged. "He wouldn't have done that if he was invincible! Ryverika was the true End-Light! Not him! If Ryverika couldn't bring himself to end his life, I'll be the one to set his wrongs right! I will show him no mercy-"

.

Laxus threw her down among his sheets and capped her wrists with his hands despite her defiant growls. "Where are those fucking cuffs- You won't show him shit if you're stuck here!"

.

Neirah's eyes shifted, the gold of infinity marking her malice. "If I have to fight you to get my way I will," she sneered.

.

"Then you'd better fucking start, Princess, because I'm _not_ letting my family go off to drag Acnologia out of the damn sky-" Laxus' breath caught behind his teeth as Neirah's hand ghosted through his grip through the shadows and reformed against the back of his head. With a furious jerk, she was forcing him down against her passionate kiss.

.

He hated how weak he was to her will, how easily his body responded to her touch. Most of all, he hated how protective he'd become ever since learning that she carried his child. He hated how terrifying the thought of losing them was to him.

.

He threw both of his hands into her hair, sliding her head back to come over her kiss, her tiny body. Her fingers were tense in demand as they clutched his face, and once he had willingly returned her passion, she moved them over his shoulders. The gentle bite of her nails saw his naked body lower into hers, the comfort of their mingling presences calming riled nerves.

.

He peeled away from their kiss shortly after, his rage subsiding for lust. "Neirah… if I lost you again," he pleaded desperately.

.

She reached out and held his face to hers, locking their gazes. "Whether I seek him out on my own terms or he shows up in the middle of battle to overwhelm us again, he and I will be forced to meet. He made that clear…"

.

"Why can't you just be grateful that you survived meeting him on your own once already?"

.

"Because in doing so, he threatened my brother, the man I love; everyone I've ever known and cared about. Acnologia took Ryverika away from me, I won't let him take… another father from a child who needs their guidance…"

.

She watched the conflict dance in his expression for a long moment before he surrendered silence.

.

"Ryverika was the only dragon who could make him tremble… I am the only one left who… who can use a power capable of purifying his kind of evil." She sighed and tipped her brow to his. "Laxus, I have to believe that the reason he let me walk away that day was that he hopes to meet with me around allies. The same reason he was able to see Ryverika to the bottom of the ocean…"

.

"I can't lose you," he repeated.

.

She pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes, an unshakable air of confidence in her expression. "You won't."

.

Laxus stared down at her for a long while, his mind racing with the depth of the reality she wanted to force. He had always believed in her strengths, being one of the only people to sense the swell of power emanating from her during her dragon force, faith came easy.

.

But it was that secret she kept from him that always made him _un_ easy.

.

* * *

.

 _"_ _Laxus, if this turns into a war, I need you on our side."_

.

* * *

.

"Fuck," he hissed desperately. He connected their lips in a series of desperate, frantic kisses. "Promise… promise you'll come back…"

.

Neirah shook frightened and uncertain tears from her eyes, denying them from her confident response to his affections. "I promise…

.

Laxus…

.

Wait for me…"

.

* * *

.

It was three days later that the Alvarez Empire made their move on Fiore's kingdom in search of Fairy Heart.

.

It wasn't long after that when Neirah's once steady hand was forced to break her promise.

.

And bring forth an end.


End file.
